MVille-Rosemont Boxscore
MVille-Philadelphia Biblical Boxscore
MVille-FDU Florham Boxscore

LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Manhattanville women's volleyball team got off to the best start in program history with a 3-0 victory over Rosemont College and ended up taking fourth place at the six-team Philadelphia Biblical University Tournament by going 1-2 on Saturday morning and afternoon at the Mason Activity Center.

Manhattanville won its first match, 3-0, over Rosemont, before suffering back-to-back 3-0 losses to host Philadelphia Biblical (25-10, 25-13, 29-27) and conference foe FDU-Florham (25-7, 25-10, 25-14) to conclude the day.

Although the Valiants won only one of their three matches on the afternoon, the first one was arguably the most important as Manhattanville won its fourth straight match to start the season. The victory surpassed the 2000 team's 3-0 start for the best start to a season in program history and put the team more than halfway to last season's win total of seven in 28 matches.

The Valiants had a nearly flawless match in the opening match of the day, a straight-set victory over the Ravens. As a team, Manhattanville hit .321 with 29 kills and just three errors, while also posting 11 service aces and eight blocks.

Junior Ally Johnson (Branford, Conn.) and freshman Jocelyn Branca (Eastchester, N.Y.) tied for the match high with seven kills apiece, with Johnson adding a match-high 11 assists and Branca posting a game-high 15 digs as well. Junior Makana Gomes (Honolulu, Hawaii/'Iolani) also had a nice overall match with six kills, 10 assists, five digs and five service aces.

In the second match of the day, Manhattanville ran into a tough Philadelphia Biblical squad and suffered a 3-0 defeat. The Valiants had a hard time getting going in the first two sets, but looked good up 17-10 in the third set. PBU closed the deficit to four at 22-18 before scoring five of the next six points to tie the set at 23-all, and the home team eventually pulled out the set and the match.

Gomes led the visitors with six kills in a losing effort, while also adding a team-high 10 assists and three service aces. Branca and junior Damaris Morales (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) both reached double-figures in digs as well, with Branca registering a team-high 14 and Morales adding 13.

After going 1-1 in pool play in the two-division tournament, Manhattanville moved onto the third-place match against fellow Freedom Conference foe FDU-Florham. The six-person Valiant squad, playing its third match in a row, had very little energy left for the Devils and put up little resistance in a three-set defeat. Freshman Susy Camaj (Lagrangeville, N.Y.) had six kills and four blocks to lead the Valiants in the match.

After the event, Gomes was honored with a spot on the All-Tournament team. The reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Week led Manhattanville with 15 kills, a .222 hitting percentage and eight service aces in the three matches, while also tying for the team lead in assists (20) and posting 24 digs as well.

Manhattanville (4-2, 0-0 Freedom) will start the home and Freedom Conference portion of its 2010 schedule on Wednesday night, as the Valiants welcome Misericordia University to Kennedy Gymnasium for a 7 p.m. start. The matchup will be broadcast live on GoValiants.TV beginning at approximately 6:55 p.m.