New Rochelle, NY – The Monroe University men's volleyball team made its season debut on Friday, splitting its two-game slate against the College of DuPage and Bryant & Stratton College. The Mustangs fell to the Chaparrals in straight sets (16-25, 21-25, 14-25) before bouncing back to defeat the Bobcats, 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21).
Freshman
Santiago Valenca was the catalyst in game two against Bryant & Stratton, recording 19 kills at a 36.8% clip. On the day, the Portugal native compiled 28 kills to lead the team by a wide margin. Freshman
Erick Concepcion followed Valenca with 13 kills on Friday.
Freshman
Murilo Gibeli served up a whopping 43 assists, including 32 versus the Bobcats.
The first match saw Monroe fall into an early hole that it couldn't recover from. Eight errors deterred the home squad from gaining any traction on the Chaparrals.
Five straight attack errors by DuPage in the second set showed that the tides may have shifted, but while Monroe held a lead for much of the set, a late run by the Chaparrals proved to be the difference maker.
Errors crept up once again for Monroe in the third set as it fell in its season opener.
Against Bryant & Stratton, the two sides traded blows in the first set. It was as back-and-forth as a set could be, but a kill from Valenca and a bad set from the Bobcats gave Monroe enough separation to earn its first set victory of the season.
Four kills ended the match for the Mustangs, with freshman
Glenn Gandarillas clinching the set.
The second set decidedly went to the team from Wisconsin despite the two sides being deadlocked at 11. The Bobcats ended the set on a 14-8 run to silence the Mustangs after an impressive first set victory.
But sets three and four went the way of the Mustangs as they moved to 1-1 on the year. Concepcion concluded set three with back-to-back thunderous kills after the teams were tied at 23, while four straight points accrued via Bobcat errors led to the win in set four.
Monroe will continue to compete at the Monroe Invitational on Saturday with matchups against Ocean County College and Passaic County Community College on deck. Start times are set for 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, respectively.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE UNIVERSITY
The athletic program at Monroe University encompasses a total of 28 teams competing across nine sports. There are 20 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as the Monroe University marching band, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeUMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@MonroeMustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
