Lightning shows flashes of brilliance in 7-game winning streak

It was difficult to decipher who was having more fun at Lehman’s latest volleyball game out at The Apex last week — head coach Sovanny Ebbesen, who spent the evening laughing and grinning during the Lightning’s latest victory, or her players, who were busy putting away Brooklyn College in straight sets.

“We’re just having so much fun and they just force me to smile,” said Ebbesen, Lehman College’s first-year coach. “That’s just how it is with us.”

There are lots of reasons to be smiling these days for the Lehman volleyball program. Fresh off a forgettable eight-win campaign a season ago, the Lightning’s 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 straight-set victory over Brooklyn College gave the Lightning their seventh straight victory, making Lehman the hottest team on the City University of New York Athletic Conference circuit.

Just how dominant has Lehman been? Of those seven consecutive victories, six have come via straight sets as the Lightning hasn’t lost a set since March 11 in a 3-2 victory over City College. 

The win over Brooklyn College also helped give the Lightning a robust 8-2 record in March and boost their record to 14-9 overall on the season, 6-1 in CUNYAC play. 

“At the beginning of the season we were just trying to get to know everybody, but now we see a lot of improvement from everybody,” said sophomore Roberto Ventura Diaz, who earned CUNYAC Volleyball Player of the Week honors last week. 

The straight-set victory over Brooklyn College avenged a three-set loss by Lehman to the Bulldogs on March 9. So what was the difference this time around?

“We’re getting better because of better communication,” said Ventura Diaz, who had a game-high 18 kills along with two service aces and six digs. 

Lehman’s stiffest test of the season will come this week when the Lightning play host to CUNYAC rival Hunter College in their regular-season finale at The Apex. Hunter, which owns a 23-5 record, is ranked 12th in the nation among Division III volleyball programs.

A daunting task for the Lightning, but if they were to pull out a victory, Lehman would earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming CUNYAC volleyball tournament tipping off next week. That’s a prospect even Ebbesen didn’t dare to dream about.

“I had not anticipated that, and I never wanted to look that far forward,” she said. “But now it is upon us. We’re the underdogs here, so I think the pressure is on them.”

“We’ve put ourselves in a really good position,” Ventura Diaz said. “It’s been years since Lehman volleyball has had a moment like this. We’re ready for Hunter and we’re looking forward to that match. We’re going to be loose and we’re going to play our game just as we’ve done all season.”