PURCHASE, N.Y. — The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team fought all the way to the end Tuesday night, Sept. 18, at the Kennedy Gymnasium. The Valiants fell behind and dropped the first set against Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom rival King's College (Pa.), but hung on and came back to win two of the next three to force a decisive fifth. Unfortunately the visiting Monarchs were able to win the momentum battle and came out on top, as Manhattanville fell 3-2 (25-19, 17-25, 25-18, 12-25, 15-10).

Each set was a different story on the night, as both teams noticeably controlled the pace of play in their respective victorious sets. After falling in the first set, the Valiants (7-2, 1-1 MACF) stormed back to take the second, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and forcing a King's (9-3, 1-1 MACF) timeout. Things evened slightly coming out of the break, but Manhattanville maintained its lead until the Monarchs got within two points at 18-16. The Valiants closed out the set on a 7-1 run to even things up in the match, led by three kills from senior hitter Laura LiVolsi (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville).

LiVolsi had another career night, as she continues to perform well in conference play. The captain converted on a career-high 66 attack attempts to notch a career- and match-best 25 kills. She also added 16 digs for her third double-double in the last four matches.

Momentum swung back to King's yet again, though, as the Monarchs raced out to a 9-1 lead to start the third set and never looked back en route to the 2-1 match advantage. On the other side of the court, Manhattanville would continue to play with a short memory and dominated the fourth to even things up and force the fifth and final set. Things did stay close throughout the first half of that fourth set, with the Valiants leading by just three at 14-11. The home squad won the next 10 points and closed out the set on an 11-1 run to force the winner-take-all set. Four kills from LiVolsi and countless well-placed serves, including an ace, from freshman setter Sarah Camarena (Los Angeles, Calif./Sacred Heart (H.S.)) were the driving force behind that run for Manhattanville.

Unfortunately, despite a raucous home crowd in support of the Valiants, the home team was never able to recover from a quick 4-0 deficit in the fifth set and fell to the the Monarch's 15-10.

Highlights:

• Camarena — team-high 22 assists, match-best-tying four service aces and eight digs.
• Sophomore libero Monica Lopez (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) — match-high 33 digs and two service aces.
• Freshman hitter Marisela Flores (Victorville, Calif./Silverado) — season-best 15 digs.
• Junior hitter Austen Brauer (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) — 10 kills and four digs.
• Junior middle blocker Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) — match-high three total blocks and five kills.
• Sophomore setter Rosie DeBellis (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington) — season-best 21 assists.

The Valiants look to shake off just their second loss of the season when they resume play Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22. Manhattanville travels north to Cambridge, Mass., for a tri-match at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The squad will face The Coast Guard Academy first at 2:00 p.m., followed by a scheduled 4:00 p.m. match with the hosting Engineers, who are ranked No. 22 in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll.