ST DAVIDS, Pa. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team battled hard against the top team in the MAC Freedom, but the Valiants nonetheless suffered a 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-20) setback to AVCA #14 Eastern University in conference action on Tuesday night at Eagles Gym.
                                
Junior Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) hit .240 with seven kills on 25 attempts to pace Manhattanville (9-5, 2-2 MAC Freedom), which falls into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with King's (Pa.) College, whom the Valiants hold the tiebreaker with. Fellow junior Asia Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nellie A. Thornton High School) added six kills for the Valiants as well on the night.
 
Eastern (17-2, 4-0 MAC Freedom) was led by Stephanie Elechko with 11 kills on .286 hitting and nine kills each from Michelle Paulsen and Sarah Roberts.
 
Manhattanville kept the first set close at the outset, with a Mackey kill and three straight points on her serve getting the Valiants within one at 10-9. But the Eagles closed the set on a 15-2 run, including 11 straight points on the serve of Rylie Haas, to take the opening frame.
 
The Valiants had their best set of the match in the third stanza, putting down 11 kills and holding a lead for a good part of the frame. With the set tied at four, Manhattanville went on a 6-2 run to open up a 10-6 advantage and force an Eastern timeout. Although the Eagles eventually mounted a comeback, the visitors stuck with the nationally ranked squad and remained within four points until a Paulsen kill on match point gave Eastern a five-point win.
 
Manhattanville will travel to Collegeville, Pa., on Saturday for the Ursinus College Tri-Match, beginning with the Valiants and Johns Hopkins University at 2 p.m. before taking on the host Bears at 4 p.m.