PURCHASE, N.Y. — The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team began its 2018 campaign with bang, defeating future Skyline Conference foe St. Joseph's College (L.I.) in three straight sets Friday night, Aug. 31, at the Kennedy Gymnasium by a score of 25-20, 25-20 and 25-18.

Senior Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) led the way for the Valiants, as the outside hitter posted a .371 attack percentage with a career-high-tying 15 kills on 35 attempts. She also tied for second on the team with six digs — in total, LiVolsi factored into 17 points for Manhattanville. She was helped out by a solid performance from fellow hitter junior Austen Brauer (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings), who chipped in 11 kills, three blocks and three digs. Sophomore libero Monica Lopez (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) was solid once again, notching 23 digs. Rookie setter Sarah Camarena (Los Angeles, Calif./Sacred Heart (H.S.)) dished out a game-high 20 assists while fellow setter, sophomore Rosie DeBellis (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington), added nine helpers.

"The girls did a really great job of adjusting the whole way through," said head coach Amanda Alayon. "St. Joe's had a really strong offense and we did a nice job putting up a solid block, listening to the little things that we needed to change. We switched up our serve-receive lineup a little bit and we switched up our blocking schemes, and once we got that moving we kind of took off."

Set One
The Valiants took the early lead, jumping out to the 6-2 advantage, but the Golden Eagles took the next four points to knot it a six apiece. Thing went back and fourth until St. Joe's jumped out to a three-point lead at 16-13, forcing Alayon to take the game's first timeout. Her squad responded and went on a 12-4 run and capped the set off with a pair of LiVolsi kills.

Set Two
This one went back-and-fourth nearly the entire set, as the teams battled all the way to a 19-19 tie. Manhattanville then took control the remainder of the set and won six of the final seven points to jump out to the 2-0 match advantage.

Set Three
Manhattanville controlled the flow of the final set from the first serve, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. The Valiants forced St. Joe's to call a timeout after three straight points gave Manhattanville a 15-9 lead. The Golden Eagles responded well after the brief respite, trimming the home team's lead to 17-14 with hopes of forcing a fourth set. It was not to be, however, as the Valiants closed out the third set winning eight of the final 13 points to finish up the match for their first victory of the season.

"The best part about this year's team is that we are definitely a lot heavier on the outsides, rather than previous years when we've been heavy in the middles," continued Alayon. "I am really proud of Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) and Austen Brauer (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) coming back in and stepping up, especially with a team that has a lot of freshmen and newcomers — they're doing a really nice job of being leaders and showing the intensity that I want on the court all the time."

Up Next
No rest for the weary, as Manhattanville hits the road bright and early tomorrow morning, Saturday, Sept. 1. The Valiants travel out to Bryn Athyn, Pa., for a tri-match at Bryn Athyn College. Manhattanville faces the host Lions at 11:00 a.m., followed by a scheduled 1:00 p.m. meeting with New Jersey City University.