BRONX, N.Y., October 6, 2018 – Monroe Express women's volleyball fell to Queensborough Community College and Kingsborough Community College, 3-0, in a pair of Region XV double-dual matches at Roberto Clemente State Park. With the loss, the Express drop to 1-11 (1-10 Region XV) on the season.
Match 1: Queensborough 3, Monroe 0
Following a 1-1 tie in the opening moments of the match, Queensborough pulled away with a 8-0 run, eventually taking the first set by the score of 25-8.
The Tigers took the second set 25-6, before the Express mounted a bit of a comeback, cutting the Tigers' third-set lead to just eight. But again Queensborough pulled away, taking the third set 25-10 to earn the victory.
Jessica Gonzalez led the Express with five digs, while
Julie Trowers tallied two services aces and and a kill.
Match 2: Kingsborough 3, Monroe 0
The Wave built an early lead in the first set, taking a 10-4 lead behind the serve of Barbara Curillova. But the Express found a response, cutting the deficit to four on a block by
Rachel Arias and
Yesenia Ardon to force a Kingsborough timeout.
The Express eventually cut the deficit to three, but again, behind the serve of Curillova, Kingsborough extended their lead to seven. And from there, the Express would only be able to trade points with the Wave, as the deficit remained at seven and Kingsborough picked up a 25-18 set victory.
Gonzalez and the Express started off the second set hot, building up an 8-2 lead as the Wave used both timeouts, unable to break Gonzalez' serve.
Following a service error though, the Wave found a run of their own, tying the set at 13-all before taking a 16-14 lead, all on the serve of Thamina Shoel.
Both teams traded points, and the Wave and Express remained deadlocked, and eventually tied again at 22-22, when
Jamillah Cruz landed a service ace.
Back-to-back errors by both sides again tied the score, this time at 23-23, before another service error gave Kingsborough a 24-23 advantage. But with the Express facing set point, Gonzalez hammered home a kill, evening up the score again, this time at 24-24.
However, the Wave rallied and scored the final two points to take the second set 26-24, and take a 2-0 lead.
The third set, just like the second, would again prove to closely contested. Kingsborough opened an early lead, but the Express responded to tie the score at 6-6. The Wave then built another large lead, going on a 7-2 run to force the Express to take a timeout.
The Wave kept the run going following the timeout though, adding seven more to take a 20-13 lead. Just when it looked like Kingsborough was pulling away, the Express made a comeback of their own, closing the gap and eventually taking a 25-24 lead.
But with a chance to take the third set, Kingsborough and Monroe traded points, before a bad set gave Kingsborough the set, 27-25, and a straight-sets victory.
Gonzalez again led the way for the Express with 13 digs, four kills and three aces, while
Dennyfer Hernandez tallied a team-high eight kills to go along with seven digs and two blocks. Arias had a season-high 18 assists, while on the defensive end,
Julie Trowers had a team-high three blocks.
The Express will look to bounce back on Wednesday, Oct. 10 when they head to Loch Sheldrake, N.Y. to take on Sullivan County Community College at 7 p.m.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 28 teams competing across nine sports. There are 18 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, and the newly added club men's volleyball team, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Monroe Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus as of the fall of 2017, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at
www.MonroeExpress.com
