PURCHASE, N.Y. --  It was another successful Senior Day on the Manhattanville College campus on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants volleyball team ended their regular season with a 3-0 sweep of Kean University. With the win (25-23, 25-11, 25-19), Manhattanville ends the regular season with a record of 17-6.

The Valiants honored their six senior student-athletes prior to the opening serve for their contributions to the team both on and off the court.

Leading the attack was freshman Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, HI/St Andrews Schools), who set a new career high with 23 kills. Senior Alejandra Figueroa (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) added 15 kills of her own whilst leading the Valiants with three aces.

Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) collected 43 assists, her third highest total of the season. The junior setter has brought her career total to 1,555 assists, passing Lu Bono '01 for the second-most in program history.

Defensively, it was the Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) show once again, as the first-year libero led the team with 17. Ruiz added 11 to collect her third double-double on the year, while Vital had 10 for her 14^th double-double of her campaign.

The Valiants trailed for a majority of the first set, as Kean opened up the affair to an 8-3 lead. Manhattanville would attempt to play catch up for much of the frame, ultimately pulling even at 15-15 before the Cougars reclaimed the lead. With Kean going ahead 21-18, the Valiants called timeout to collect themselves. The move worked, as the Valiants immediately rattled off the next four points to take their first lead of the day. The Cougars would respond and ultimately move the score to 23-23, but another opportune timeout call allowed the Valiants to regain the serve on a Cougar attack error and Ballagas to win the first set with an ace.

The Valiants would use the momentum from the comeback to roll through the second set. After taking an early 4-1 lead, Manhattanville prevented Kean from doing anything with their serves for much of the set. The Cougars would only score once while in control of the ball, while the Valiants would use a six-point run served by Figueroa to take the second set, 25-11.

The Crimson and white kept the foot on the gas to begin the third, scoring five straight off Vital's serves. The Cougars refused to go quietly, pulling even at 10-10 before the two teams would trade the lead back and forth. With Manhattanville nursing a slim 18-17 lead, a kill from Ruiz got the serve back to the home team before Kiera Charpentier (Mansfield, Conn./EO Smith) served the Valiants to a crucial three points. The deficit was too much for Kean to fight back from this time around, as Ruiz put the game away with her 23^rd kill of the day to send the Valiants into the postseason with momentum on their side.

Up Next
With a 10-1 record in the Skyline Conference this season, the Valiants secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference Championship. Manhattanville earned a first-round bye, and will host the winner of No. 3 Farmingdale State and No. 6 Sarah Lawrence on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.

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