Boxscore

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Behind a match-high 11 kills from senior Alexandra Goble, Misericordia University defeated the Manhattanville women's volleyball team by a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-11) score in both teams' 2010 Freedom Conference opener on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.

Both teams recorded 15 errors in the three-set match, but Misericordia held a big 40-16 advantage in kills and hit .223 to Manhattanville's .010 in picking up its first Freedom win of the season. Besides Goble's kill total, sophomore Cailin McCullion had eight kills and 12 digs while junior Kristin Hoffman recorded the match's only double-double with 18 assists and 11 digs for the visitors.

For Manhattanville, juniors Ally Johnson (Branford, Conn.) and Makana Gomes (Honolulu, Hawaii) tied for the team lead with five kills apiece, with Johnson adding seven assists and seven digs and Gomes contributing six of each. Classmate Damaris Morales (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) led the squad with 17 digs on the evening.

Misericordia scored six of the match's first seven points to jump out to an early lead in the first set, but the home team battled back to knot the score at seven early on. After scoring two straight points to regain the lead, the visitors never trailed again, helped by four straight points on Hoffman's serve late in the set.

The Cougars started the second set strong as well, as Goble recorded three straight kills to put the visitors up early. The Valiants again battled back to take an 8-7 lead thanks to an MU attack error and eventually grew its lead to two at 10-8 on a kill by freshman Jocelyn Branca (Eastchester, N.Y.), but Misericordia continued to pressure the Valiants and took the lead back at 12-11. The Valiants kept with the Cougars for much of the set, but the team could get no closer than two points.

Manhattanville took advantage of some Misericordia mistakes to begin the third set, taking an early 5-3 lead, but a subsequent 6-0 run on the serve of McCullion swayed momentum back to the visitors. After an MU service error, the Cougars came back with an 8-1 run this time to take a 17-7 lead and take full control of the set and the match.

Manhattanville (4-3, 0-1 Freedom) returns to non-conference play this weekend, as the team travels into the city to take part in a tri-match with John Jay College and William Paterson University beginning with a 1 p.m. match with the Pioneers. Misericordia (5-1, 1-0 Freedom) will take part in the University of Scranton Tri-Match on Saturday.