PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team continued to show its tremendous resiliency on Tuesday night, as the Valiants battled back from a pair of deficits to pull out a crucial 3-2 (14-25, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 15-11) victory over King's (Pa.) College in Freedom Conference action at Kennedy Gymnasium.
The win moves Manhattanville (13-13, 3-3 Freedom) into a tie for fourth place with FDU-Florham in the Freedom Conference standings with one match to go. The Valiants now control their own postseason destiny and can clinch the first Freedom Tournament berth in program history with a win over Wilkes next Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.
Manhattanville received stellar contributions from multiple players in the victory, the team's third five-set Freedom triumph on the home floor this season. Sophomore
Alissa Primavera (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) led the way with 22 kills, jumping all the way from 11th to fifth on the school single-season kills list and also tying for eighth on the school single-match ledger. Freshman
Aly Pappalardo (Mahopac, N.Y./Lakeland) had the match of her young career, more than doubling her season output with 17 kills and adding three blocks, while classmate
Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) added a season-best 15 kills, seven digs and five blocks.
Sophomore
Sam Miano (Bronx, N.Y./Maria Regina) came up big defensively with a match- and career-high 35 digs, followed closely by senior
Alyssa Casino (Rye Brook, N.Y./Maria Regina) with 30 digs. Sophomore
Megan Quinabo (Pearl City, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama) also had a good match with 17 digs and a career-high 49 assists, the latter of which is just one off the school record of 50 set back in 1987.
King's (12-11, 0-6 Freedom) was led by Katelyn Shifflett with 16 kills and Emily Heimbecker with 14 kills and a team-leading 23 assists. Mary Loughran also posted a double-double with 39 assists and 18 digs to go with five kills and five aces.
As has been custom at Kennedy Gym throughout the season, this Freedom contest came down to the final frame. The teams tied up on six occasions before either team reached double figures, the last coming at eight-all after a King's error. It was Pappalardo again with a kill to put her team ahead, and two more kills from her and Mackey helped the Valiants open up a 12-8 advantage. King's got back within two at 13-11, but the Lady Monarchs handed over the match with a service error and an attack error to give Manhattanville the huge win.
After King's recorded 12 kills and only one error to take the first set, Manhattanville battled back to even the match with a crucial second-set win. The Valiants held a 10-8 lead before the Lady Monarchs mounted a comeback, eventually taking an 18-13 lead on a Valiant error. But the home team responded with four straight points following a timeout, including two kills from Primavera and one each from Mackey and junior
Allison Regan (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel) to get back in the set. Down two at 20-18, Primavera added her eighth kill of the set followed by back-to-back Pappalardo put downs to take the lead back for good.
The Valiants dropped the third set in heartbreaking fashion, staging a late comeback before squandering four set points in a 29-27 loss; however, the team showed its scrappiness by again coming back to stay alive in the fourth. In a set that saw 13 ties and eight lead changes, Manhattanville was two points from defeat down 23-22 after an attack error. Regan had another big kill out of a timeout to knot the score and Mackey followed with one of her own to set up set point, which was converted on the first chance this time thanks to a King's error.
Manhattanville, which moves to 8-1 on the home court this season, will honor its four graduating seniors with Senior Day before its final home match of 2014 on Saturday. The Valiants take on Montclair State in a non-conference contest starting at 1 p.m.
