PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — Making their first appearance in the Skyline Conference Championship in program history, the No. 6 seed St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team fell in straight sets, 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 20-25, 25-9), to sibling rivals No. 3 St. Joseph's College (Long Island) on Tuesday evening.

The Bears close out their season at 12-11 overall, their first winning season since 2013. Brooklyn finished 5-5 in Skyline play, their best result since joining the conference in 2015.

Long Island (20-11) moves on to face No. 2 seed Mount Saint Mary in a semifinal matchup on Thursday. 

How It Happened

The Bears got off to a slow start managing just eight kills over the first two frames while the host Golden Eagles slammed 33 kills at a .343 clip to race out to a 2-0 set lead.

Brooklyn started to get it going in the third. After six ties and four lead changes, the Bears trailed 12-10 but used a 7-1 spurt to move ahead for good. Long Island pulled back within one at 20-19, before Brooklyn closed out the set winning five of the final six points behind kills from Kayla Ostermann (Glendale, N.Y./Queens Metropolitan), Briana Marrazzo (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep), and Makayla Beehler (Rockaway Point, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep).

But the cardiac kids, who played in six five-set matches this season, couldn't keep the momentum going in the fourth to force another deciding set. The Golden Eagles took the first three points of the fourth and raced out to a 9-2 lead and never turned back.

For the match, four different Golden Eagles reached double-digit kills, combining for 58 overall, while the Bears managed 21 kills. 

For the Bears

• Reigning Skyline Player of the Week Cristina Morales (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) led the attack with seven kills and 15 digs.
• Beehler paired 18 assists with 12 digs for her team-leading ninth double-double of the season.
• Marrazzo chipped in six kills and brought up eight digs while Valentina Urgo (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep) anchored the defense with a team-high 16 digs.