CUNYAC Men’s Volleyball Presented by Pepsi

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Championship Central

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# 1 Baruch College (2), #2 Hunter College (3) (21-25, 25-17, 25-27, 25-21, 15-7)  

For the second time in CUNYAC history, the CUNYAC/Pepsi Men’s Volleyball Final was broadcast live on ESPN3 and it was a thriller. The #1 Baruch College Bearcats took on the #2 Hunter College Hawks yet again in the Championship in a packed house at Baruch College.  Hunter College would make history and deny Baruch their eighth straight title in a wild five-set victory.

Hunter libero Joseph Muir exclaimed “This win means everything. I came here not knowing much about Division III volleyball. People at home used to say it’s not much, but it’s a lot.  There’s a lot of great players here.”

The crowd was buzzing prior to the start, as each team had gave each other their only CUNYAC loss of the season, also in five sets. The match started as each team traded points in several long rallies. Baruch emerged an 11-8 leader after the first timeout in front of an enthusiastic Championship crowd. The two teams would come out of the break exchanging points yet again until Stephen Roach took service, putting the pressure on Hunter with four straight powerful serves. The fourth serve would be an ace giving Baruch a 17-12 advantage heading into timeout number two. Hunter was able to side out after the break, but were met by an overpowering Bearcat team that took six of the next eleven points to go up 23-17 capped by several powerful kills from both teams. Hunter would not go away, as they crawled back to 24-21, but would be finished off by Brady Ambro’s 6th kill of the game as Baruch claimed the set 25-21. Nicholas Godino stepped up huge, leading the way with 7 kills from 8 attacks. His previous career high for an entire match was 9, and he would finish the match with 17.

Godino would start the second set with his 8th kill. However, Hunter would come roaring back with 4 straight points to take an early 4-1 lead.  The Bearcats would come back to level the score at 4-4, but Hunter would reclaim the lead 13-8 behind great serving and attack from Ben Cruisinberry.  After a timeout, Hunter would continue dominating the frame with a number of kills and extend their lead to 19-11 behind kills from five different Hawks, leading to another Baruch timeout. Hunter Coach James Pompeo, dressed in his all-purple suit, went into a frenzy, bringing the away section onto their feet.  However, Baruch wouldn’t go away easy, as they rattled off 4 of the next 6 points to bring it to within 21-15. Benjamin Cassidy would virtually seal the game with a huge block out of seemingly nowhere. Hunter would finish the game 25-17 on a great kill from Matthew Zukowski, sending the crowd into a frenzy and setting up a best-of-3 to decide the title.

After a 10-minute break, the two teams came back out of the locker rooms to settle business. The third set would be hard fought as both teams exchanged points before Baruch scored five straight points to take an 8-4 lead forcing the Hawks to call a timeout. The Hawks would come storming back right out of the gate to draw even at 9. The deadlock could not be broken, as the two squads reciprocated the next fifteen points, including several sensational digs by Joseph Muir and Taylor Higgs as Baruch went into the next timeout up 17-16. Baruch would take the first two-point lead since 9-7, but Hunter would immediately strike back to tie the score at 19 on another kill from Blake Hogan, his 10th of the game. Baruch struck back with two quick points, before Hogan’s 11th kill drew the game even once again at 22, forcing another timeout. You could feel the intensity in the air, as both teams came out of the break needing just 3 points to take a 2-1 series lead, and one game away from the CUNYAC title. The Hawks took their first lead since 16-15 on a Cruisinberry block, but would immediately be responded by Ambro’s 16th kill of the match. The Hawks took a 24-23 lead off a hitting error, forcing Baruch to call another timeout.  Baruch would not give in so easily, as Ambro would deliver yet another kill forcing the game into overtime.  Ambro would continue his clutch performance with yet another kill to put the Bearcats up 25-24, but could not put the game away as Hunter would get another chance.  After a Hunter service error, Ambro took full advantage of a the chance to redeem himself on the serve, forcing an attack error to give Baruch the third game 27-25 and a 2-1 series lead.

Tournament MVP Steven Tarquinio said, “When we were down 2-1, all my brothers came together. We have so much heart and comradery. We’re the hardest working team in Division III, everyone trusts each other to do the right thing. We knew we were the better team and we never got down. We knew we deserved to be champions.”

The Hunter Hawks responded immediately jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead behind a pair of Cruisinberry kills.. After conceding two quick points, Benjamin Cassidy responded with a kill and an ace of his own. Two more points would extend Hunter’s lead to 9-3, forcing the Bearcats to huddle up and regroup. Baruch immediately responded with an ace of their own and cut the lead to 9-6.  Cruisinberry’s fourth kill of the game and 9th of the match would see the lead go back up to 11-6.  Ambro would respond with a pair of kills of his own, and cut the lead back to four.  Hunter would stretch their lead to 7 as they forced the Bearcats into several consecutive errors. The stellar play of Hunter libero Joseph Muir could not be ignored, popping up several would-be kills to keep the Hawks firmly in the lead 19-12.  A pair of aces by setter Stephen Roach in a four-point run which included a miraculous save by Scott Standring would bring the Bearcats back to within three.  After a Hunter timeout, the two teams would fight tooth-and-nail, with Baruch cutting it to as little as two.  A Cassidy kill would give the Hawks a 24-20 lead, and a missed serve would give them a 25-21 win. A fifth and final set would be needed for the third time this season.

The final set would start with Hunter getting to an early 4-2 advantage aided by a pair of kills by Cruisberry and another amazing dig by Muir.  The Bearcats would respond with Brady Ambro’s 4th ace of the game to level the score at 4.  Hunter would score four straight points on a combination of attack errors, a monster kill from  Matthew Zukowski, and finalized by Steven Tarquinio’s 11th kill of the match off a Baruch overpass.  Hunter would take six of the next eight points to pull away, and broke Baruch’s seven-year run on Benjamin Cassidy’s 9th and final kill to send the Hawks players and fans rushing onto the court.

When asked what this win meant, Coach Pompeo stated “When I took the job, it wasn’t for myself. I knew that I could guide this team and get them where they wanted to go.  This is why I got into coaching. I really don’t do it for myself at all.”  

Hunter College now awaits their matchup in the NCAA Tournament.

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