PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team picked up its 22nd victory of the season tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 31 – tied for the third-most wins in program history – as the squad defeated St. Joseph's College-Long Island 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-16) on Senior Night and clinched the perfect 11-0 conference mark and regular-season Skyline Conference title.
Winning their first regular-season conference title since the 2001 season, the Valiants (22-5, 11-0 Skyline) are now just one win shy of tying for the second-most victories in a single season. Prior to the match against the Golden Eagles (15-11, 8-3 Skyline), however, the Crimson and White celebrated its two graduating senior members –
Marissa Shamansky (Woodbury, Conn./Henry Abbott Tech) and
Austen Brauer (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) – with a pre-game ceremony.
Once play got underway, Manhattanville came out hot and took the first set by 12 points. Brauer (five kills) and sophomore
Alejandra Figueroa (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) (four kills) helped the Valiants to the early 1-0 lead thanks to a combined nine kills, as their squad also notched five service aces in the set.
The second set was a much closer affair. Neither team was able to grab control of play and the Golden Eagles actually held a two-point advantage at 21-19 before Manhattanville closed out the set with a 6-1 run, helped by a trio of road errors, an ace from Figueroa and kills from freshman
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) and Brauer. Manhattanville jumped out to a 5-0 early lead in the third set and never looked back as they closed out the match with a nine-point win.
Highlights:
- Brauer led all players with 13 kills om 28 swings for a .321 hitting percentage. She added three digs, two blocks and two aces.
- Figueroa closed out her night with nine kills on 22 swings for a .318 hitting percentage. She also finished just one dig shy of a double-double with nine.
- Vital led all players in both assists (28) and digs (14) for yet another double-double on the year.
- Freshman Geena Torres (Middletown, N.Y./Pine Bush) chipped in with 12 digs, four assists and two aces.
- Rookie Caylee Premoli (White Plains, N.Y./School of the Holy Child) had a strong night and finished with four digs and three aces.
- Freshman Hannah Pena (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen) finished with three total blocks and five kills on seven swings with just one error (.571).
The victory officially clinched the regular-season title and No. 1 overall seed in the Skyline Tournament for the Valiants, who return to action next Thursday, Nov. 7, for a 7:00 p.m. home semifinal match against the winner of the first-round battle between fourth-seeded Golden Eagles and No. 5 Farmingdale State College.
