New York, New York - The BMCC women's volleyball team equaled their win total from last season, upending Hostos Community College in straight sets 25-12, 25-8, and 27-25 on Thursday night at BMCC Gymnasium. The Panthers moved to 3-1 (2-1 Region XV), while the Caimans dropped to 1-3 (1-3 Region XV).
Sophomore Emmanuella Aurel (Port Au Prince, Haiti) led the Panthers on offense with a game-high eight kills and missed back-to-back double doubles with 10 digs defensively. Freshman Kavana Liburd (Queens, New York) dished out a game-best 21 assists, while classmate Devon Vazquez (New York, New York) placed a game-high four service aces.
Vasquez also led the Panthers defensively with a team-high 13 digs.
The Panthers jumped all over the Caimans in the opening set, with the first four points and the last three coming courtesy of two kills by Aurel and one from Vazquez. The Caimans would get within two 7-5 with five of the following eight points before the Panthers went on a 4-0 run capped off by a service ace by Jaylynn Mateo (Brooklyn, New York) and back-to-back kills from Liburd and Andrea Perez-Guzman (Brooklyn, New York) to get their lead to six, 11-5. The Panthers would stretch their lead to its largest of the set 11, 18-7 on a Caiman attack error and get it to a 20-10 advantage on a Vasquez service ace before taking the set 25-12.
After the Panthers cruised to a 25-8 second-set victory, the Caimans battled hard in the third. Hostos jumped out to an 11-5 lead before BMCC scored nine of the next 12 to even it up at 14. The third set would be tied 10 times with three lead changes down the stretch as Hostos would lead 17-15 on BMCC attack error before the Panthers scored five of the next seven points to tie it at 20 on an Aurel kill. The Panthers had two chances to take the match, leading 24-23 and 25-24 on Ishinay Lennon (Bronx, New York) and Perez-Guzman kills, but the Caimans wouldn't be denied using a Nicole Rodriguez kill to tie it at 25.
BMCC put it away with the last two points of the set. Perez-Guzman's kill gave the Panthers a third match point that they wouldn't squander, ending the third set with a service ace from Valerie Reynoso (Queens, New York) to win it 27-25 and take the match.
The Caimans were led on offense by Nicole Rodriguez and Nyla Harris, who registered three kills apiece, while Alyson Camejo dished out a team-high eight assists. Hostos Community College had three players with double-digit dig performances as Mariali Sosa and Natalie Mora handled a game-high 16 digs each, while Samantha Colon had 12 digs.
The Panthers will look for back-to-back victories this Saturday, September 21, at noon against Union County College in Cranford, New Jersey. For more information, visit the BMCC Women's Volleyball Schedule Page.
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