Baruch’s perfect play in volleyball competition

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Denis Gostev | Baruch Athletics

Edgar Llivisupa, Sports Editor

The Baruch College men’s volleyball team (12-9, 10-0 CUNYAC) remains undefeated in the CUNY Athletic Competition, riding an 11-game winning streak as the season concludes.

The Baruch Bearcats have won each match in less than four sets in addition to their winning streak.

In Baruch’s most recent match, the Bearcats beat The John Jay College Bulldogs (7-11, 5-5 CUNYAC), winning 25-18, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19.

The Bulldogs took a set from the Bearcats. This was an improvement from a matchup earlier in the season when the Bearcats swept John Jay. That was only the second set to be won against Baruch during their win-streak, the other being from a matchup against Hunter College earlier in the season.

Baruch’s Defeng Han and Haoxin Hu led the home team in kills with 14 each. Stallone Shankar led with 41 assists, tying a career record.

Baruch hit .375 in the deciding set and hit .212 in the game. John Jay only hit for .080 in the game.

The Bearcats traveled to the Bronx earlier this month, where they swept the Lehman College Lightning, 25-8, 25-18, 25-22.

Baruch started strong and hit .640 in the first period while Lehman struggled, hitting a negative percentage.

Lehman scored eight straight points in the final set and led by six to prevent the sweep. The Bearcats chipped away at the deficit to tie after a kill by Michael Higgins. Three straight service aces by Juancarlos Henriquez gave the away team the lead and eventually the win.

Carlos Rodriguez led the winning team with 10 kills, a career high. Ryan Oommen had 24 assists which was the highest of the match.

Hosting the winless York College Cardinals (0-8, 0-4 CUNYAC), Baruch overwhelmed their opponent in a convincing sweep, 25-6, 25-4, 25-7.

The Bearcats hit above .500 in all three sets, ending the night with a .614 hitting percentage, a season high.

York struggled to start the match and trailed by 11 at the start of the game before earning their first point of the night off a Bearcat service error. The Cardinals ended the night with only seven kills and one ace.

Oommen led the winning team in assists with 18 while Rodriguez led in kills with seven.

In their second regular-season matchup at Brooklyn College (4-11, 1-5 CUNYAC), Baruch prevailed, 25-19, 25-17, 25-11, for their fourth sweep in a row.

Bearcat Wen Cheung had the most digs with 18, while Shankar led in assists with 25.

The team hit .220 for the night after scoring 28 kills. while Brooklyn struggled, hitting negative for the night.

Brooklyn kept the beginning of the first two sets close until Baruch went on a scoring streak to pull away.

Baruch visited Jamaica for a rematch against York in the rescheduled match and won again in straight sets; 25-6, 25-5, 25-8. The victory also pushed Baruch above .500 for the first time this season.

The Bearcats only trailed at the start of the second set after committing an attack error.

Hu led the evening with eight kills, Oommen led in aces with 10 and Shankar assisted with 13. Baruch did not record a block in the game.

For the second time this season, Baruch swept City College (10-6, 5-5 CUNYAC) at the Arc Arena, 25-17, 25-13, 25-16. The win extended the team’s win streak to 10, the longest since 2013.

While City led to start the first set, back-to-back kills by Han both tied and took the lead.

Hu’s 10 kills led the Bearcats, while Shankar led in assists with 25.

The Bearcats hit .316 for the match, including hitting .556 in the third period.

Shankar was selected the CUNY Player of the Week for the week. Hu was awarded the Rookie of the Week award.

Baruch’s next game at Hunter (9-6, 8-1 CUNYAC) will likely determine the top seed for the conference tournament starting on April 5.

Their final regular season home game is against Lehman College (6-13, 3-8) before concluding the season at the Vassar Tri-Match where the Bearcats will play SUNY Poly and host Vassar College.