MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team rebounded from a tough loss on Friday night with a pair of impressive victories at Saturday's Montclair State University tri-match, coming back to beat the host Red Hawks in four sets and sweeping the College of New Rochelle.
 
Playing against two NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago that combined to post a record of 47-19 in 2016, the Valiants took six of seven sets and did so with poise, winning none of them by more than five points and most in comeback fashion.
 
Senior Kerry Mackey (Smithtown, N.Y./Christ the King) led the Valiants with 21 kills on .278 hitting for the day, followed by classmate Meagan Dattoma (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) with 17 kills and a team-high five aces. Freshman Ari Ramos (Commerce, Calif./El Rancho) recorded 63 assists (9.00/set) and 19 digs in the two wins, while classmate Monica Lopez (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) added a team-leading 29 digs in seven sets.
 
Manhattanville 3, Montclair State 1
Manhattanville posted its second win in 14 all-time meetings with Montclair State (and first since the initial meeting in 1992), coming back from a set down to post a hard-fought 3-1 (15-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22) victory.

Mackey led the team with 13 kills and four blocks in the win, followed by Dattoma with 10 kills on .267 hitting. Ramos dished out 34 assists and Lopez led three Valiants in double figures with 15 digs.
 
After dropping the first set, the Valiants came back to sweep the final three in very close fashion. In the second stanza, the visitors found themselves down 23-21, but stormed back with four straight points to take the set. A kill from freshman Keisha Schutte (Ewa Beach, Hawaii/James Campbell) started the run, followed by a timely ace from junior Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) in between two MSU errors that clinched the set.
 
Manhattanville again staged a late rally to win the third set, scoring eight of the final 10 points to take a 2-1 lead. Down 21-17, Dattoma started a 5-0 run with a kill that also included a LiVolsi kill and a Dattoma ace. After MSU tied the score at 23, an error was followed by a kill from senior Asia-Morgohn Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nellie A. Thornton) to finish off the frame. The Valiants recorded only one error in the set, hitting .391 with 10 kills on 23 attempts.
 
The Valiants started their comeback a little earlier in the fourth set, scoring six straight points to turn a 15-12 deficit into an 18-15 lead. Up two at 20-18, Manhattanville simply traded points the rest of the way, with key kills from Mackey and Reid helping to seal the victory.
 
Manhattanville 3, New Rochelle 0
After the MSU win, Manhattanville came right back and swept New Rochelle, winning by a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-21) score. The Valiants hit .243 with 38 kills and only 11 errors in the victory.

The Valiants had a very balanced attack in the victory, with Reid posting a team-high nine kills on .389 hitting, followed by eight each for Mackey and LiVolsi, seven from Dattoma and four from Schutte. Ramos added 29 assists and Schutte led the squad with 15 digs.
 
In the opening set, the Valiants used five straight points to take a 13-10 lead. After that, the Valiants did not allow the Blue Angels to make any sort of run, ceding back-to-back points only once the rest of the way. The Valiants put down 16 kills with only two errors in the frame, hitting .389 in taking the early lead.
 
After jumping out to a 12-5 lead on the way to taking the middle frame, Manhattanville again stormed back late to win the final stanza. Down 19-16, the Valiants ended the match on a 9-2 run thanks to five Valiant kills and four CNR errors.
 
Manhattanville will return home on Wednesday to take on the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in another tough non-conference clash beginning at 7 p.m. at Kennedy Gym.