NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College volleyball team rebounded nicely from an opening set loss, winning three straight sets to pick up the win at Mount Saint Mary College on Monday night. The 3-1 win (23-25, 25-13, 25-22, 25-16) improves the Valiants' record to 8-4 (2-1 Skyline) in 2021.

Mnahttanville set new season highs in kills, assists, and digs, making plays on the ball all over the court. Three different Valiants reached double digit kills as part of the team's 57 putaways. Alejandra Figueroa (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) matched her season-best effort with 15 kills, while Militza De Hostos Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/) both posted career highs with 14 and 10 kills, respectively. De Hostos Gonzalez also had 15 digs for her first collegiate double-double.

On the topic of digs, nine different Valiants combined for 90 total digs in the match. Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) set her new personal best with 24, while Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) (21), De Hostos Gonzalez, and Emma Dronzek (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart) (12) also reached double-figures. On the assists front, Vital was the leading playmaker for Manhattanville as she has done all year long, posting a new season-high mark with 45.

After the Knights took a tightly-contested first set, 25-23, the Valiants responded with a 12 point win in the second frame. Manhattanville held Mount Saint Mary to just three points off their serves in the entire set and used a 10-1 run midway through to take a comfortable 18-9 advantage that allowed the Valiants to draw the match even.

Set three started off in Mount Saint Mary's favor, with the Knights jumping out to leads of 6-2 and 10-5. Trailing 14-9, Manhattanville scored six straight points to take their first lead of the frame since the opening point. The teams would then play to five different tied scores before the Knights took a 21-20 advantage towards the end of the set. Manhattanville would tie the set and win back the serve off a Morales kill before scoring four of the next five points to win the frame.

The fourth set continued to be back-and-forth, with the score being tied eight separate times en route to a 10-10 deadlock. From there, Manhattanville scored four straight points to give them a lead they wouldn't look back from. The Knights hung around, cutting the Valiant lead down to as little as one, but after a service error gave the Crimson and White the serve back with a 19-16 advantage, Manhattanville scored six straight to close out the win.

Up Next
The Valiants are back at home on Thursday night to host Framingdale State at 7 p.m.

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