PURCHASE, N.Y. — Despite a valiant effort, the Manhattanville Volleyball team lost in straight sets (25-11, 25-17, 25-18) to #9 Eastern on Tuesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium in MAC Freedom Conference play. 

The first set was a back forth battle between the two schools until the Eagles ended on a 14-2 run to take the first set.

The Valiants continued to fight in the second set as they took the lead multiples times and went toe-to-toe with the defending conference champions. However, Eastern (19-3, 4-0 MAC Freedom) eventually pulled away and won the second set 25-17.

Manhattanville (10-7, 0-4 MAC Freedom) once again battled with the ninth-ranked team in the nation as the Valiants rallied from two seperate eight point deficit to keep the third set close. The Eagles though had too big of a lead and were too much as Eastern eventually put away the Valiants 25-18 to win the set and the match.

With the win, the Eagles have now improve to 54-0 in conference play as Eastern looks to win its eighth consecutive MAC Freedom title.

Junior Stephanie Elechko led all attackers with 15 kills and senior Rikki Schlager recorded a game-high 22 assists.

The Valiants were led by sophomore Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) who accounted for a team-high seven kills. Freshman Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) was second on the team with five kills and sophomore Asia Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nellie A. Thornton High School) recorded four kills. Reid led the team in blocks with two and LiVolsi recorded a team-high nine digs. Junior Megan Quinabo (Pearl City, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama) along with freshman Andrea Baez-Berrios (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Cupeyville School) each had 10 assists to lead the Valiants.

Manhattanville will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Montclair State for a tri-match against the Red Hawks and Mount St. Mary before resuming conference play next Wednesday at Delaware Valley.