The top-seeded Baruch Bearcats (29-5) captured their first CUNYAC Men’s Volleyball Championship since 1990, sweeping the second-seeded Hunter Hawks (16-12), 30-25, 30-24, 30-26, at Hunter on Thursday evening. The Bearcats, who finished with a perfect 14-0 conference mark during the regular-season, advanced to the finals with a 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded Brooklyn (11-11) earlier in the evening. Hunter gained the championship game by virtue of their sweep of third-seeded CCNY (15-14). Baruch had grabbed the runner-up trophy five times since their last title.
“It’s just hitting me that we haven’t won this in 16 years, and that makes this even more special,” said Baruch Head Coach Justin Stack. “This win is for all of the guys that worked so hard for our program over the years. We have come so close recently, particularly last season, and we deserved this.”
Baruch jumped out to a 7-0 advantage in the opening game and Hunter could never recover from their poor start. The Bearcats took their largest lead at 21-10 before the Hawks would make a run. Hunter trailed just 26-21 as Arthur Lebedin came up with a block, but a Greg Waldvogel kill and a Hawks’ hitting error pushed the lead back to 28-21. Waldvogel (6 kills) and Danial Levent (5 kills) dominated the game as the pair combined for 11 kills.
With the score tied at 7-7 in game two, Baruch used a key 10-2 run to take a commanding 17-9 advantage. The Hawks closed to within just four points, 25-21, on a Baruch hitting error, but several key service errors down the stretch wounded their chances for a comeback.
Game three followed a similar pattern as the Bearcats broke an 8-8 deadlock by scoring five straight points to grab a 13-8 advantage. Hunter would eventually tie the score at 18-18 after Baruch committed a ball handling error. The game was tied for the final time, 22-22, after a Shandu Foster block, but Levent responded with a kill to put the Bearcats on top for good at 23-22. Hunter then committed two consecutive hitting errors and they suddenly fell behind 25-22. Baruch eventually closed out the match on a kill by Steven Rouse.
Sophomore Danial Levent (pictured top-center and right) was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament after racking up 13 kills and four blocks against the Hawks. He added 17 kills versus Brooklyn in the semifinals.
“This was totally unexpected {winning the MVP} and my teammates played a big role in this accomplishment,” said Levent. “We have stuck together as a team all year and continue to back each other up. We were all tired and a bit sluggish, but we battled on defense and really helped each other out.”
Waldvogel added 12 kills and seven digs and King Chen had 41 assists. Manny Palatulan led Hunter with nine kills and 13 digs and Foster added eight kills and five blocks.
In addition to Levent, Baruch’s Waldvogel and Rouse were named to the All-Tournament Team. Palatulan and Lebedin were selected from Hunter and Luke Heywood (Brooklyn) and CCNY’s Malcome Jerome were also honored.
Hunter advanced to the finals with a 33-31, 30-25, 30-25 victory over CCNY. Lukas Lyszak recorded 19 kills and 17 digs and Alex Trost added 17 kills and nine digs to lead the Hawks. Jozef Dubroja distributed a match-high 47 assists for Hunter, who hit .311 in the match. Malcome Jerome led CCNY with 17 kills and Rafael Jerez had a team-high 15 digs.
