Berbelin Jape scored 23 points on a match-high 20 kills and three service aces on October 29 at Kingsborough Community College, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 CUNYAC (CUNY Athletic Conference) Community College Volleyball Championships after lifting second-seeded Hostos to its first title after upsetting top-seeded BMCCC, 3-2 (30-26, 16-30, 24-30, 30-27, 15-13).
Hostos (6-4 vs. CUNYAC teams in 2007) advanced to the finals by taking out third-seeded host Kingsborough by a 3-1 score (28-30, 30-12, 30-17, 31-29) in an earlier semifinal. Similarly, BMCC (9-1 vs. CUNYAC) used a four-game victory (30-26, 28-30, 30-19, 30-28) in the semifinals versus fourth-seeded Queensborough to reach the title match.
BMCC received double-doubles from Jasmine Alina Pena (10 kills, 11 digs, six service aces) and Telma Torres (11 kills, 21 digs), while Michele Bonna (four blocks) and Selma Bektesevic (nine digs) registered 16 and 11 kills, respectively to pace the Panthers’ offense.
The first game of the match featured seven ties and two lead changes, with the Caimans taking the lead for good at 18-14 after scoring five unanswered points behind the serving of Luisa Almonte (match-high 34 digs).
Game two belonged to BMCC, which raced out to a 12-5 advantage and was never threatened.
The third game of the match saw Hostos start out on an 8-2 run, before the Panthers responded with a 12-2 spurt of their own to garner a 14-10 lead that it would never relinquish.
A total of 12 ties and seven lead changes occurred in game four, as the Caimans’ 14-7 advantage was quickly erased by a 10-2 BMCC run, giving the top seed a 17-16 lead. Then, with the game tied at 22-all, Jape ripped off four kills as part of a 7-1 Hostos run, sending the match to a deciding fifth game.
The final game of the match was a back-and-forth affair (eight ties, four lead changes), with neither team leading by more than two points at a time in battling to a 13-13 score. A Caimans’ time out seemed to ice the Panthers, as a pair of miscues by the defending champions allowed Hostos to lift the championship hardware for the first time in school history.
We thank Tom Emberly of The City University Athletic Conference for his report.
