Box Score 1 | Box Score 3 PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's volleyball team split a pair of very close contests on Saturday afternoon at the annual Valiant Tri-Match, coming back from a two-set deficit to defeat Bard by a 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17, 15-12) score but ending the day with a 3-1 (25-12, 25-27, 25-13, 25-20) loss at the hands of Marywood at Kennedy Gymnasium.
 
Freshman Patricia Alfonso (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Puertoriqueno de Ninas) and junior Susy Camaj (Lagrangeville, N.Y./Millbrook) played well offensively on the afternoon, with Alfonso leading all players with 22 kills and Camaj trailing close behind with 21. Sophomore Alyssa Casino (Rye Brook, N.Y./Maria Regina) led the way defensively with a day-best 46 digs (over five per set), while sophomore Veronica Ferreiras (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Malverne) and freshman Carly Conca (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) split the Valiant setting duties with 28 and 23 assists, respectively.
 
The first match of the day was by far the most exciting, as Manhattanville and Bard needed two hours and seven minutes to decide a winner. After the Valiants dropped the first two sets in excruciating fashion, the home team stormed back to take the next three and pull out the come-from-behind victory.
 
Alfonso had the best match of her young Valiant career in the win, posting her first double-double with a match-high 16 kills and 15 digs and doing so on .237 hitting. Camaj also had a double-double, putting down a career-high 13 kills for the second straight match and adding 12 digs. Defensively, Casino was all over the court for Manhattanville, as her career-high 37 digs are the most by a Valiant in at least 10 years.
 
Bard was led by Tytravia Riley and Mai Aurell-Foulser, both of who had double-doubles of their own. Riley had a team-leading 13 kills and 19 digs, while Aurell-Foulser added 10 kills and 19 digs of her own.
 
The Valiants just as easily could have won the first two sets as well, but came up just short in both the first and second set. In the opening frame, the teams were tied on seven occasions, including at 20-all, 22-all and 23-all., but Manhattanville ceded the last two points to fall behind early. The hole was made bigger after the second set, in which the score was tied at 16-all before a brief 4-0 run was all Bard needed to take the lead and hold off the Valiants the rest of the way.
 
The third set was also tightly contested early on, with neither team earning a lead of more than two points for most of the frame. Up by one at 16-15, the Valiants used a 9-5 run – helped by three straight aces by Camaj – to stay alive and force a fourth set. That fourth set was the least competitive of the day, as Manhattanville raced out to an 11-2 lead on the serves of Ferreiras and Alfonso and never looked back.
 
That brought up the decisive fifth set, which by itself featured eight ties and three lead changes. The eighth and final tie was at 12-all late in the set, but a kill by Camaj put the home team back on top and two straight Raptor errors sealed the unlikely victory.
 
Manhattanville fell behind again in their second match of the afternoon, but this time could not complete the comeback and fell in four sets to Marywood.
 
Camaj had a team-leading eight kills for Manhattanville in a losing effort, with Alfonso adding six kills and a team-high 12 digs as well. Marywood's Ashley Zalewski was the top hitter on either side with 14 kills, followed by Sara Melick with nine. Kelly Chadwick played in only three sets and still accumulated 31 assists for the Pacers, while Rachel Tollet chipped in a match-best 24 digs as well.
 
After falling behind early and dropping the first set, the second looked to follow the same script, as the Pacers built up their largest lead of the frame at 23-17 and seemed ready to go up by a pair. Two Alfonso aces and a Camaj kill helped get the Valiants back within one at 23-22, but a Zalewski kill made it game point for the visitors. However, a kill from freshman Jillian Chittenden (Rye, N.Y./Rye) evened the score and gave the squad some new life. After the teams exchanged attack errors, back-to-back Pacer errors gave the set to the home team.
 
Marywood reestablished itself in the third set, using a 14-4 run midway through the frame to open up a 10-point edge and cruise to the set victory. In the final frame, Manhattanville held a 12-9 lead before a quick 7-2 run put the visitors back in front, and the Valiants could not get back to even despite getting within one on three occasions.
 
In the middle match of the day, Marywood made quick work of Bard, coasting to a 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-9) win. Kathleen Reilly led a balanced Pacer attack with eight kills on .429 hitting, while Melick hit .545 and put down seven attempts off the bench. In all, Marywood hit .277 as a team with 38 kills and 15 errors, easily counteracting Bard's 14-kill attack.
 
Manhattanville will play its first road game of the 2012 season on Wednesday night, but the team will not have to travel far as the Valiants make the quick trip across town to take on Purchase in the annual battle for Anderson Hill Road bragging rights beginning at 7 p.m.