CUNYAC Men's Volleyball - February 18, 2002

Player of The Week - Alejandro Flores, Lehman Fr, 6'7, MB, Moca, Dominican Republic

The 6'7 rookie out of Moca, Dominican Republic continues to pound the opposi-tion as the Lightning won three more con-tests last week. In wins over Hunter, Brooklyn and division II New Haven, Flores ac-cumulated 47 kills, 17 digs and 10 solo blocks for the #11 ranked team in the nation. In the CUNY win over Hunter, Flores had 16 kills and 8 blocks. The freshman middle blocker leads the team with 169 kills and 25 solo blocks while placing second in service aces.

Rookie of The Week - Eder Mathelier, NYC Tech Fr, 6'3, OH, Brooklyn, NY

The Yellow Jackets won two straight to improve to 3-2 overall largely thanks to their freshman outside hitter out of Sheep-shead Bay High School (Brooklyn, NY). Mathelier collected 17 kills, 13 digs and five service aces in wins over Brooklyn and York last week. On the season he is hitting at a .473 clip with 51 kills and 48 digs, both tops for City Tech.

Last Week's Results

CCNY def. Medgar Evers 30-16,30-20,30-26
Lehman def. Hunter 30-19,30-20,30-20
City Tech def. Brooklyn 30-23,30-25,30-21
Brooklyn def. Polytechnic 30-24,23-30,30-27,30-28

Baruch def. John Jay 30-28,30-19,30-25
NY City Tech def. York 30-0,30-0,30-25
CCNY def. John Jay 30-13,30-17,30-22
Hunter def. Baruch 30-22,30-24,30-22

Lehman def. Brooklyn 30-15,30-10,30-19
Ramapo def. Medgar Evers 30-19,30-26,30-24
USMMA def. Medgar Evers 30-25,30-26,30-25
Medgar Evers def. Wentworth 30-23,30-27,30-27

E. Mennonite def. CCNY 30-23,30-28,30-32,32-30
CCNY def. Phil. Biblical 30-20,30-25,30-21
CCNY def. N.J. City 30-20,30-14,30-19
CCNY def. Kings Point 30-24,30-24

CCNY def. Eastern Mennonite 30-22,30-20
Lehman def. New Haven 30-19,30-19,30-26

This Week’s Schedule

Tuesday, February 19th
Ramapo @ Hunter 7:30 pm

Wednesday, February 20th
CCNY @ Queens 7:00 pm

Thursday, February 21st
Hunter @ Brooklyn 7:00 pm
Lehman @ York 7:00 pm
Medgar Evers @ NY City Tech 7:00 pm

Saturday, February 23rd @ Hunter College 9:00 am until 5:00 pm

Baruch vs. Brooklyn & CCNY
Brooklyn vs. Baruch & York
CCNY vs. City Tech & Baruch
Hunter vs. York & Medgar Evers
John Jay vs. City Tech & Lehman
Lehman vs. Medgar Evers & John Jay
Medgar Evers vs. Lehman & Hunter
NY City Tech vs. John Jay & CCNY
York vs. Brooklyn & Hunter

CUNYAC / STATE FARM notes

LEHMAN RANKED 11th IN THE NATION

The Lightning remained hot in 2002, winning three more games last week to remain perfect at 11-0 and moved up to #11 in the AVCA division III coaches poll (as of 2/12). A new poll will be out on Feb. 18th.

"I am very proud of my team, but our goal is to keep moving up and get in the top 10," said fifth-year head coach Junior Garcia. "We are playing very well together as a team."

The Lehman squad is the also the only unbeaten men's volleyball team in the nation. Outside of some tough competition within CUNYAC, which includes a very tough CCNY squad, Lehman is also scheduled to face current #9 SUNY-New Paltz and #12 Stevens Tech. In addition to the team ranking, the Lightning is also ranked in several statistical categories, including having the #1 hitter in the nation Max Valerio (.644) and #5 Alejandro Flores in kills per game (4.52), all as of last week.

"We got some quality recruits and we are definitely a strong team - how strong, only time tell," added Garcia.

CCNY BEAVERS CAPTURE THE GOTHIC KNIGHT INVITATIONAL TITLE

The Beavers won the 8th Annual Gothic Knight Invitational Tournament on Saturday at New Jersey City University. As is often the case, CCNY rode the offensive onslaught of junior middle blocker Owen Niles who was selected as the tourney MVP. The Beavers, coached by Robert Pichardo, avenged an earlier loss to Eastern Mennonite and swept the Royals in the finals 30-22, 30-20. The playoff round was shortened due to the length of the tournament.

"We are playing some great volleyball right now," said Pichardo. "We are not a morning team and we lost that first one, but we certainly woke up after that to beat everybody."

After losing the opening match of the day to Mennonite, CCNY bounced back to beat Philadelphia Biblical College and host New Jersey City in straight sets before knocking off USMMA-Kings Point in the semis by identical 30-24,30-24 scores. In addition to Niles, freshman outside hitter Sebastian Hoffman out Germany was named to the All-Tournament team. Medgar Evers also participated in the tourney, going 1-2 on the day.

HEARD AROUND CUNY...

The Statesmen got the first win out of the way when they knocked off John Jay at the West Side school in straight games. Kyle Vakhranev paced Baruch with 16 kills with Ioannis Michaelidis adding 33 assists...Michael McFalls had 14 kills and 6 blocks and Sebastian Hoffman added 12 kills and 5 blocks as CCNY beat John Jay in three...Senior Justin Stack paced the Hawks with 22 kills and 14 digs while Alfred Daos added 16 kills and 20 digs in Hunter's sweep of Baruch. Ray Bello had 42 assists...John Jay's Igor Meystelman pounded 31 kills for the week, but it wasn't enough as the Bloodhounds lost in three straight to Baruch, CCNY and Hunter. Kevin Kozub added 5 kills and 10 digs in the Hunter loss...Max Valerio has 10 kills and 5 digs as the Lightning overwhelmed Brooklyn in three...City Tech has won two straight under rookie coach Greg Nosarzewski, knocking off Brooklyn and York in three straight games. Rohan Lewis had 12 assists and 7 digs in their latest triumph over York. The Cardinals gave up the first two matches and dropped the third 30-25 at City Tech despite 5 kills and 10 digs from Binchu John and 8 digs from Jude Aboladin.

LOOK OUT...

The margin of separation between the top two teams in CUNY is just three points, but those three points have given Lehman the #11 spot in the nation while CCNY may or may not earn honorable mention votes. Lehman won their contest in five games, 15-12 in the fifth. The rematch is next Monday, Feb. 25th at CCNY - 7:00 pm start.