Box Score Boxscore
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The tandem of Paige Horrigan and Madeline Svrcek combined for 25 kills on .388 hitting as visiting DeSales swept the Manhattanville women's volleyball team, 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-21) in a hard-fought Freedom Conference contest on Wednesday evening at Kennedy Gymnasium.
Horrigan was nearly unstoppable on the night from a Valiant perspective, as she posted 14 kills and just two errors for a .571 hitting percentage. Svrcek, meanwhile, had 11 kills and also added 12 digs for her team's only double-double of the night.
Seniors Ally Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford) and Makana Gomes (Honolulu, Hawaii/'Iolani) both had double-doubles for Manhattanville in a losing effort, as Johnson tied a season-high with 11 kills and added 10 digs while Gomes posted 18 assists to go with 13 digs. Freshman Sam Delmer (Boise, Idaho/Eagle) just missed a double-double of her own with a team-high 15 digs and nine kills.
The teams split the first 16 points of the opening set to keep the game tight, but four straight Valiant attack errors gave DeSales an early 11-8 lead. Manhattanville got within two at 12-10 before the Bulldogs went on a 9-3 run that opened up a margin of error and allowed the visitors to take an early lead. DeSales had 13 kills to Manhattanville's five in the first set, with Horrigan contributing four on just five attempts.
Horrigan and Svrcek led DeSales to a nearly flawless second set, as the pair combined for nine kills and no errors on 13 attempts (.692). The Bulldogs jumped on the Valiants early in the middle frame, taking eight of the first nine points and building up a 16-3 advantage, and as a team hit .324 with 13 kills in the set.
Manhattanville battled hard in the third set, giving the visitors all they could handle before eventually coming up just short of extending the match. Down by two at 16-14, the home team went on a 6-2 mini-run thanks to four DSU errors and a kill each from Gomes and Johnson to take a 20-18 lead. But after a DeSales timeout, the Bulldogs came back with seven of the match's last eight points to close out the win in straight sets.
DeSales as a team posted 42 kills, with Horrigan and Svrcek combining to out-kill Manhattanville as a team, 25-23. Johnson and Delmer combined for 20 of Manhattanville's 23 kills, as the balance was not there for the Valiants against a strong Bulldog squad.
Manhattanville (7-4, 0-2 Freedom) will look to shake off the loss on Saturday at the Wentworth Tri-Match, as the Valiants take on host Wentworth at 11:00 a.m. and John Jay at 1 p.m. DeSales (13-2, 2-0 Freedom) will compete at the Carnegie Mellon Tournament starting Friday at 2 p.m. against Bridgewater.
