BROOKLYN – The Pratt Cannoneers men's volleyball team fell at St. Joseph's College in heartbreaking fashion Thursday night, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23). St. Joseph's rallied in all three sets to down Pratt after the Cannoneers were the first team to cross the 20-point plateau in each set. With the loss, Pratt falls to 4-3 on the season.
In the first set, after the Cannoneers won the serve, St. Joseph's would score the first point of the match to grab an early lead. After junior outside hitter David Cutler (Calabasas, Calif.) registered his first kill in tying the match, the teams traded the lead back and forth until Pratt grabbed an 8-6 lead on back-to-back attack errors by the Bears. After a St. Joseph's timeout, the teams would alternate two-point rallies that ended with the Cannoneers holding a 22-20 lead. The Bears would rally for the game's final five points to claim the first set, 25-22.
Needing to regroup after a difficult end to the first set, the Cannoneers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a pair of Cutler kills and a St. Joseph's attack error. After the Bears rebounded to tie the game at 4, the teams would trade the lead back-and-forth until Pratt again seized control of the match, taking advantage of four errors, surrounding a pair of kills by senior middle hitter Matthew Valentine (Devon, Pa.) to take an 18-13 lead, the largest advantage of either team to that point. Pratt would maintain a four-point lead until 22-18, when St. Joseph's again rallied to score seven of the set's final eight points to win. 25-23.
In the final set, Pratt would again claim the first points of the set on a pair of Cutler kills, but it was St. Joseph's that would go on the early run, claiming their largest lead of the entire match at 9-4. Pratt would tie the set at 13-13 as Cutler and Valentine combined for four kills and an ace to spark the Cannoneers. The Bears would continue to hold a one-point lead until a Cutler kill followed by a St. Joseph's attack error gave Pratt an 18-17 advantage. Pratt would push the lead to 21-19 on an ace and a kill by freshman middle hitter Haven Gordon (Wakefield, RI). However, St. Joseph's would again rally at the end of a set, scoring four consecutive points to regain a 23-21 lead. After a service error gave Pratt a chance to tie the game at 23, a Thomas Kennedy kill returned the ball to the Bears with a chance to win the match. A setting error by St. Joseph's gave the Cannoneers a chance to tie the game at 24, but Kennedy again struck a perfectly placed ball for his 16th kill of the match, to end the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-0.
The loss snapped the Cannoneers two-game winning streak.
Cutler led all players with 24 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Brandon Ryan (Belchertown, Mass.) had 25 assists and 10 digs and Gordon added three blocks.
Up Next: The Cannoneers will travel across the Verrazano Bridge to take on the College of Staten Island on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. for the first of two road games. The Cannoneers return to the friendly confines of the ARC for a return match with St. Joseph's on March 30.
Follow Pratt Athletics on Twitter @GoPrattGo or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GoPrattGo
