WILKES-BARRE, PA – The City College of New York men's volleyball team continued its solid start to the season by recording two wins on Saturday afternoon.  After beating Purchase (0-3) by a 25-22, 25-15, 25-20 count, the Beavers (4-0) recorded a 29-27, 19-25, 25-21, 25-20 victory over host Wilkes (2-2) at the Marts Center.  CCNY is now 4-0 for the second time in three years.

In their first match of the day, the Beavers raced out to an early 12-5 lead and never looked back.  Purchase pulled within four at 15-11 before Elijah Parks (Long Beach, NY) smashed a kill to spark a 7-3 run that increased CCNY's advantage to 22-14.  The Panthers again rallied back, however, rattling off six straight points to make it 22-20.  A Vukasin Bozic (Belgrade, Serbia) kill halted the rally, then Stormer Horton's (Waimea, HI) kill brought the Beavers to set point.  CCNY took the opening frame by a 25-20 margin.

There were six ties early in the second set before CCNY seized control.  With Purchase leading 11-9, Carlos Maldonado Madrid (Honduras) slammed a kill to start a 5-0 run that gave the Beavers a 14-11 edge.  As a team, CCNY ripped 14 kills in the set.  The Beavers also hit a combined .323 (four errors, 31 attempts) in the 25-15 win that gave them a 2-0 lead in the match.

A pair of Omar Dervisevic (East Elmhurst, NY) service aces gave the Beavers a 10-5 lead in the third set, and CCNY extended that cushion to 20-12 on a block by Horton and Andrew Chan (Flushing, NY).  After a Horton kill (the sixth of his CCNY debut) brought the Beavers to match point, CCNY closed out the set, 25-20, and completed the 3-0 sweep.

Bozic paced the Beavers with 11 kills, while Maldonado Madrid had six kills and eight digs.  Chan distributed 31 assists, and Jonathan Liao (Jackson Heights, NY) notched a match-high 13 digs, as CCNY held a 42-32 advantage in that category.  As a team, the Beavers hit .211 (35 kills, 16 errors, 90 attempts) in the victory.

For the Panthers, Jeremiah Huntt led the way with seven kills and seven digs.  Andreo Otiniano finished with six kills and seven digs, while Idris Idris handed out 22 assists to go along with six digs.  Purchase hit a combined .126 (26-15-87) in the match.

CCNY's match against Wilkes featured a back-and-forth first set.  It was deadlocked at 14-14 when the Colonels went on a 5-0 run to open up a 19-14 advantage.  The Beavers battled back within one at 23-22 before an Andrew Potter kill brought Wilkes to set point.  However, a service error followed by two consecutive setting errors against the Colonels gave CCNY a set point opportunity of its own at 25-24.  Wilks won the next point to even the score at 25-25, and the sides would be level again at 26-26 and 27-27.  Finally, on the Beavers' third set point chance, Bozic put away a kill to end a 29-27 win.

Wilkes scored the first two points of the second set, but CCNY countered with a 4-1 spurt to pull ahead.  After the Colonels regained the lead at 9-6, the Beavers again rallied back, tying the score at 10-10.  The sides traded the next nine points before Wilkes used an 8-2 run to open up a 22-16 advantage.  The Colonels took the set by a 25-19 count to even the match one set apiece.

With Wilkes holding an 8-7 lead in the third set, Bozic roped with a kill that started a 4-1 CCNY run, putting the Beavers in front 11-9.  CCNY extended its cushion to 17-13 before the Colonels scored three straight points to pull within one, 17-16.  After the teams traded three-point spurts, kills by Maldonado Madrid and Parks gave the Beavers a 23-20 edge.  Parks was then credited with a block on set point, as CCNY took the frame, 25-21, and went up 2-1 in the match.

After CCNY raced out to a 12-7 cushion in the fourth set, Wilkes scored six of the next seven points to force a 13-13 deadlock.  The Beavers never relinquished the lead, however, capturing the next point every time the Colonels tied it.  Back-to-back Bozic kills gave CCNY some separation at 18-16, and the Beavers pulled away to take the set, 25-20, and close out a 3-1 victory.

Offensively, the Beavers were led by Bozic for the fourth time in as many matches.  He had seven digs to go along with his career-high 20 kills.  Parks finished with 13 kills on .370 hitting, and he also registered three blocks.  Liao contributed 17 digs, while Maldonado Madrid tallied 16 digs and Javier Lazo (Woodside, NY) collected 14 digs.  Chan, meanwhile, notched 36 assists and eight digs for the Beavers, who hit .100 (43-28-150) as a unit.

Zach Evans finished with 14 kills on .379 hitting for the Colonels.  Potter posted 10 kills and four blocks, while Cole Hefner recorded seven kills, six blocks and three service aces.  Zach Shay had a double-double with 40 assists and 11 digs, and JD Kirby tallied a team-best 15 digs.  Joseph Gayton added 14 digs and Alberto Ramon returned 13 digs, as Wilkes held a 71-68 edge in that category.  As a team, the Colonels hit a combined .113 (45-28-150).

Up next for CCNY is a 7 p.m. matchup at Bard (1-1) on Tuesday night.  It will be the first of two scheduled meetings this season between the Beavers and Raptors.