ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team struggled to find its offensive rhythm on Tuesday night, as the Valiants dropped a 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-7) decision to AVCA #19 Eastern University in Freedom Conference action at Eastern Gym.
 
Eastern (20-5, 4-0 Freedom) remains in a tie for first place in the conference standings with Misericordia thanks to its victory. The loss drops Manhattanville (9-12, 1-3 Freedom) into sixth place in the conference with three matches to play, but the Valiants still have a shot at the postseason if they win at least two of their final three.
 
The visitors knew going in they had a tough test against the nationally ranked Eagles, who have yet to drop a conference match nearly seven full seasons with the Freedom Conference. That task was not helped by 26 errors that contributed to a -.189 hitting percentage on the night, compared to an efficient Eastern squad that hit .371 with 35 kills and just nine errors.
 
Sophomore Alissa Primavera (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) had a team-best four kills on 23 attacks, followed by junior Allison Regan (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel) and freshman Meagan Dattoma (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) with two each. Sophomore Megan Quinabo (Pearl City, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama) narrowly missed the match's only double-double with a team-leading 11 assists and nine digs.
 
Alicia Weigel paced Eastern with a match-high nine kills on .467 hitting, followed by Morgan Shemonski with eight kills and the same .467 hitting percentage. Rikki Schlager added a match-high 30 assists and Rylie Haas had a team-leading 11 digs as well for the home team.
 
Manhattanville will take part in its final multi-match day of the season on Saturday, when the Valiants make the short trip to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for a tri-match with the Mariners and Medgar Evers beginning at 4 p.m.