BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Pratt Institute men's volleyball team suffered a five-set setback to Clinton Hill rivals St. Joseph's University (Brooklyn), 20-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19, 15-7, on Thursday evening on the road at The Hill Center.
Six different Cannoneers contributed a kill to the attack led by eight kills apiece from Jason Raymond and Max Wang. Wang also brought up 11 digs and Raymond stuffed six blocks (one solo). Joji Kawamura added six kills, two aces, 11 digs and two blocks. Wallace Hallot chipped in four kills, four aces and three digs. Brooks Reid handed out 20 assists with a match-high five aces, six digs and three blocks.
Pratt (1-3) captured the opening set using a 10-3 run after a 13-all deadlock in the frame and held on for a 25-20. The Cannoneers erased an early five-point deficit in the second and built a 17-14 led after three straight aces from Hallot. Pratt later held on to a 22-20 lead, before St. Joseph's ran off four straight points. The black-and-gold erased both set points to stay alive, but the Bears won the set 26-24 to knot the match at 1-set all.
A closely contested third set saw 12 ties and four lead changes. Pratt never led by more than one-point and saw themselves down 20-17 before winning the final eight points to claim the set, 25-20. Reid helped power the set-winning run with three aces that included the final two points.
Despite the momentum of the late run to close the third, Pratt ran out of steam in the fourth and the fifth, falling behind early in each frame and never able to recover.
St. Joseph's (1-5) was led by Alex Helfant's 16-kill, 11-dig double-double and Lasha Kemashvili added 10 kills and eight digs in picking up their first victory.
Pratt looks to bounce back welcoming Yeshiva University to the ARC on Monday, February 12 at 7 p.m.
