MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team had its postseason hopes dashed with a heartbreaking 3-2 (24-26, 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 15-10) defeat at the hands of FDU-Florham in the teams' MAC Freedom finale on Wednesday night at the Ferguson Recreation Center.
 
Needing to win the match in straight sets to win a possible three-way tiebreaker, Manhattanville (12-10, 3-4 MAC Freedom) came up just a few points short in the match and in the conference standings. FDU-Florham (23-7, 5-2 MAC Freedom) clinched the third seed in next week's conference tournament with the victory.
 
Despite the loss, several Valiants had superlative performances on the night. Freshman Keisha Schutte (Ewa Beach, Hawaii/James Campbell) registered 52 assists to break the school single-match record set twice by fellow Hawaiian Megan Quinabo '17 in both 2015 and 2016, and also added 18 digs and four blocks. Classmate Monica Lopez (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) also recorded a match-high 36 digs to tie the program single-season record of 566 set back in 1996 by Nicole Schnaars. Lopez continues to rank in the top-five of Division III in digs per set this season.
 
In addition, senior Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) put down a season-high 20 kills, while classmate Meagan Dattoma (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) added a double-double of 12 kills and 20 digs and junior Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) had another double-double of her own with 15 kills and 16 digs.
 
FDU-Florham led for most of the first set, but Manhattanville staged a late comeback to pull out the opening frame. Facing a pair of set points down 24-22, the Valiants got back-to-back kills from Dattoma and Mackey to knot the score. Then, after a big block from Mackey and Schutte put the visitors in position, Dattoma served up an ace to clinch the set.
 
Manhattanville fell behind early in the second set, as a 9-0 run helped the Devils out to an 11-4 lead. The visitors attempted another late rally, eventually getting to within a point after two straight Mackey kills made the score 21-20, but the team could not get back to even.
 
The third stanza featured 11 ties, the last of which came at 15-all after a LiVolsi put down. However, four straight points for the home team gave the Devils the advantage and they were content to trade points the rest of the way to take a 2-1 lead.
 
The Valiants showed some heart in the fourth frame, leading for almost the entire frame to force a decisive fifth set. The visitors used a 7-1 run to take a 15-7 lead, yet the Devils fought back to eventually tie the score at 19-all. Two FDU errors and a Dattoma kill put the Valiants back ahead, and Mackey finished off the frame with three kills for the visitors.
 
The visitors dropped the first point of the fifth set and never saw the lead, as the Valiants could string together consecutive points just once.
 
Manhattanville will close out the 2017 season on Saturday, as the Valiants celebrate their graduating seniors with Senior Day before a non-conference matchup with Lehman College beginning at 1 p.m.