By: Manuel Polanco And Reagan McLean
Brooklyn College (BC) may have been on break the past week, but that didn’t stop BC sports from rolling. The women’s Volleyball team ended their week on a two-game winning streak, as did the men’s soccer! First up, women’s volleyball.
Women’s Volleyball
The last time BC beat the Hunter College Hawks was in the CUNYAC title match in 2023, but this losing streak was broken at a home game on Sept. 23. BC beat the Hawks 3-2 in a close game that went into five sets. BC won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-17, but Hunter would go on to win the next two sets 25-8 and 25-7, to push this into the fifth set. In the fifth set, BC tightened up and took home the win by winning this set, 15-10.
An all-around good game by the team, showcasing their tenacity and grit, freshman Ella Snobar left her mark on this game, ending her night with eight kills, one assist, one ace, and seven blocks. The team worked together to secure their win tonight: sophomore Danielle Fuxman had four kills and one block, junior Olivia Fan had three kills and six blocks, and lastly, sophomore Meadow Andrews ended her night with three kills and six blocks.
BC went on to play against St Joseph’s on Sept. 25, and they won again 3-1. BC was dominant in this game, and even though it went to four sets, they won the first two sets 25-22, 25-19, but lost the third one. They would win the fourth set 25-22. Capped off by another great game by Snobar, with 12 kills, five blocks, and two aces.
Fan had seven kills and eight blocks, Fuxman had four kills and 2 blocks, and freshman Olivia Carroll had four kills, five aces, and one block.
The winning streak continues for the BC Bulldogs volleyball season at home with a score of 3-0 against the Pratt Institute Cannoneers. The Bulldogs haven’t won a game against the Cannoneers since 2022, but the Bulldogs swept with [25-16, 25-21, 25-14]. With the Bulldogs winning games against Hunter, St. Joseph’s University, Long Island, and now the Cannoneers, the Bulldogs got their first winning streak since the beginning of the season, with a current record of 7 wins and 8 losses.
The Cannoneers struck first; however, the Bulldogs were able to respond quickly and make the score of the early first set 5-1. The Cannoneers came back and tied the score to 10. The Bulldogs outscored the Cannoneers 8-1, with senior setter Amra Mulic, hitting three aces to finish the set 25-16.
The Cannoneers struck first in the second set, but once again, the Bulldogs were able to give a quick response, taking a 12-5 lead in the middle of the second set. Coming towards the end of the set, the Cannoneers almost tied and even took the lead by cutting the deficit to 22-21. The Bulldogs were able to close out with senior middle blocker Ayatallah Elkotby serving for the first time in the game, thus allowing the Bulldogs to score three straight to end the set 25-21.
After a back-and-forth game of tied scores in the third set, the Cannoneers got near 16-14; however, the Bulldogs went on their longest run of the night to win 25-14, scoring a game-high total of nine straight points, which was led by three aces from junior libero Malia Reyes.
With game-high efforts from Saule Okeke-Ziburkus with 6 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, and four digs to lead the offense, Mulic provided her overall game of 9 assists, 7 digs, and 5 aces, and senior libero/outside hitter, Ruti Joshi, being an all-around player with 14 digs, 4 assists and 2 aces, the Bulldogs secured their third game at home.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Bulldogs will have a doubleheader. They will be participating in the Rowan University Tri-Match. The first game is against the DeSales University Bulldogs at 1:00 pm, followed by the Rowan University Profs at 3:00 pm.
Men’s Soccer
It seems like the men’s soccer team loves to play at home as they are undefeated at home and picked up a win against the Pratt Institute Cannoneers.
BC won 2-0 and continued their dominance at home. Sophomore forward Emir Imamberdiev was the hero of the game as he scored both goals for BC. His first goal came 24 minutes in as teammate Yassin Hairane would get the assist on the goal. Hairane would end the day with two assists and one shot.
The next goal came 37 minutes in as sophomore defender Navruz Asatullaev found and passed the ball to teammate Imamberdiev again, helping score the second goal. This would be Asatullaev’s first assist of the game.
Imamberdiev had five shots, three shots on goal (SOG), and two goals this game. Next up is their game against the Elms College Blazers on Sept. 27.
Coming off their undefeated streak at home, BC was on the road facing off against the Blazers of Elms College and won dominantly. BC struck first in the first quarter, and that’s all they would need as they won 2-0.
Eight minutes into the match, senior Nikala Metreveli would net the first goal of the game with an assist from Gavrilov. Metreveli’s stat line for this game was seven shots, two goals, and four SOG. Gavrilov ended his day with two shots, two SOGs, and one assist. Metreveli scored again in the second half, and that sealed the win for the team.
BC played again on Oct. 1 against Baruch at Met Oval, starting their conference play.
Baruch versus BC ended in a stalemate as both teams would leave this game tied 1-1. The scoring started early as Gavrilov scored the first goal of the game 16 minutes in.
BC was playing good defense all game, but in minute 76, Baruch broke through to tie the game with a goal of their own by their player Ryan Vukovic.
The Bulldogs returned home on Saturday, Oct. 4, to play Hunter College.
BC has played well at home throughout this season, and Oct. 4 marks another win at home for the Bulldogs. BC won their match against Hunter in a hard-fought 1-0 game. This was a close game, and the scoring finally happened at minute 79.
Junior defender Clermens Devariste broke the tie with a goal, and his teammate junior defender Adam Moharam was credited with the assist. This marks their 5th win at home, an impressive feat.
BC will be on the road to face off against the John Jay Bloodhounds on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 4 pm.
Women’s Soccer
The losing streak for the Bulldogs continued on Monday, Sept. 22, against Western Connecticut, with a score of 0-5 in a non-conference road game. Sophomore goalkeeper April Hartje made two early saves, but Connecticut took a 2-0 lead quickly by scoring an assisted goal at 13 minutes and an unassisted goal a minute later.
With the game clock at 15 minutes, sophomore midfielder Chelsea Gonzalez made the first shot attempt against the Wolves. However, the shot was saved by the Wolves’ goalkeeper, keeping the score at zero for the Bulldogs. Hartje made 5 more saves; however, Western Connecticut made a breakthrough, increasing the score to 3-0 in a total of 27 minutes.
Hartje had an immense workload ahead of her. Despite making 10 saves in the first half, Hartje conceded Connecticut’s third goal at the 27-minute mark. With the game clock at 65 minutes, the Wolves made another assisted goal, thus making the score 4-0 before scoring again in 83 minutes. At the end of the match, Hartje had a total of 16 saves, a strong effort, knowing that the Bulldogs faced a total of 43 shots throughout the game. The next game for the Bulldogs at The College at Old Westbury was postponed; however, the next game they played against Albertus Magnus College and a game at home against New Jersey University, where both games were losses. The next game against Kean University will be held at home on Oct. 8.