Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – Manhattanville had no answer for King's hitter Alexa Nelson, who hit .480 thanks to 12 kills without an error, as the Lady Monarchs came to Kennedy Gymnasium and dealt the Valiants a tough 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 28-26) defeat in Freedom Conference women's volleyball action on Wednesday night.
 
Manhattanville (8-16, 1-4 Freedom) has its postseason hopes take a big hit with the loss, as the Valiants fall into a tie for seventh place in the Freedom Conference with the Lady Monarchs (6-15, 1-4 Freedom) with two conference matches left to go.
 
King's hit .210 as a team in the straight-set win, led by Nelson's match-high 12 kills. Molly Dahl added seven kills and a quartet of players added four kills apiece, including Mary Loughran, who also added a match-best 27 assists. Jillian Foster also led all players with 25 digs defensively for the visitors.
 
Junior Susy Camaj (Lagrangeville, N.Y./Millbrook) and freshman Patricia Alfonso (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Puertoriqueno de Ninas) led the Valiant offense with 10 kills apiece, followed by freshman Mirusha Mujaj (Bronx, N.Y./Yorktown), who had five kills without an error. Alfonso added six service aces and a team-leading 20 digs for her third double-double of the year (and second in a row), while sophomore Veronica Ferreiras (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Malverne) also reached double figures in a pair of categories with 20 assists and 10 digs.
 
The first was well played by both teams, as the squads combined for 24 kills (12 each) and just five errors. The Lady Monarchs held a slight lead for most of the frame and still held that lead at 19-17 before closing the frame on a 6-1 run to take the first set.
 
Manhattanville came out firing to start the second set, as Alfonso had four aces and Mujaj added one of her own to help open up an early 8-1 lead. However, King's came right back with an 11-1 run, helped along by six Valiant hitting errors, to regain the lead at 12-10. Much like in the first set, the home team hung around but could never fully get back on top, and as a result fell into a two-set hole.
 
The Valiants started the third set strong as well, scoring 10 of the first 15 points to earn an early edge. After King's battled back to tie the score at 13, the lead changed on multiple occasions before the Valiants used a late 5-2 run to earn a pair of set points up 24-22; however, a Valiant attack error and a timely ace by Loughran knotted the score again. After battling off one match point, Manhattanville had a set point of its own up 26-25 but could not convert, and the Lady Monarchs closed with a kill by Nelson to finish off the home team in three sets.
 
Manhattanville will start a busy weekend of volleyball at the Kean Invitational with two matches on Friday night, as the Valiants take on NYU-Poly at 6 p.m. and the host Cougars at 8 p.m.