HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – Junior
Megan Quinabo (Pearl City, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama) ended the day with 44 assists to become Manhattanville College's all-time assists leader as the Valiant women's volleyball team swept two matches from Penn State-Abington and Centenary (N.J.) College at the Centenary Tri-Match, held at the John M. Reeves Student Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Valiants started the day with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-16) victory over the Nittany Lions, and then closed out the afternoon with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-9, 25-8) win over the host Cyclones.
Quinabo was the story of the day for Manhattanville, finishing the afternoon with 1,548 career assists. Entering the day needing 13 assists to pass Lu Bono '02 for the career record, Quinabo needed only a single set to accomplish the task, picking up her 13th assist on the final point of the first set against Abington. The junior setter needed only 212 career sets in which to accomplish the feat, 45 fewer than Bono.
In the team's first match of the day against PSU-Abington, Quinabo had the only double-double with 29 assists and 10 digs to go with six service aces and two kills. Classmate
Alissa Primavera (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) just missed a double-double with a team-high nine kills and 10 digs, followed by sophomores
Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) and
Meagan Dattoma (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) with six kills apiece.
The first set started out as a close one, with the score tied eight different times before Manhattanville made a convincing run. With the match knotted at 11 following a service error, Quinabo stepped to the line and the Valiants won the next seven points to take an 18-11 edge, and four more points on Primavera's serve helped to clinch the set, which finished up with a Mackey kill that gave Quinabo her
record-setting assist.
After a second-set win, Manhattanville closed out the Nittany Lions with a comfortable third set, scoring the first six points and jumping out to a 17-5 lead before coasting to a victory.
The Valiants were incredibly efficient in the second match of the day against the host Cyclones, posting 36 kills with only five errors and a .413 hitting percentage in a 65-minute victory. The .413 average is the best for the Valiants in a single match since hitting .442 in a three-set win over Sarah Lawrence University on October 19, 2013.
Primavera again led the squad with eight kills on 18 attempts, while Mackey hit .700 with seven kills on 10 errorless attempts. Freshman
Christina Nardi (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) added a team-high 15 digs and classmate
Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) chipped in a match-high six service aces as well for the visitors.
After putting down a match-high 13 kills in a first-set victory, the Valiant attack was nearly flawless over the final two sets. The Valiants did not make an error in the second set, recording 11 kills on 26 attempts for a .423 hitting percentage. The third set was even more efficient, as the squad picked up 12 kills with just one error on only 17 attempts for an incredible .647 hitting clip.
Manhattanville will look to remain unbeaten on Wednesday, when the team returns home to Kennedy Gym to host the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy beginning at 7 p.m.
