PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team extended its winning streak to four straight matches as the Valiants logged a fourth-consecutive sweep on Monday night, winning the Battle of Anderson Hill Road matchup at Purchase College in three sets. The win (25-14, 25-9, 25-12) brings the Valiants back up to .500 on the year with an 8-8 mark while improving to a perfect 4-0 in Skyline action.
Despite only appearing in two of the night's sets,
Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) firmly planted herself in program history as her three digs in the contest brought her career total up to 1,000. The junior is just the tenth Valiant ever to reach 1,000 digs as a Valiant and joins teammate
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) who also reached the milestone earlier this year.
While Ballagas made her way into the elite club, plenty of other playmakers shined for the Valiants in the win. The defensive effort was led by
Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) as the rookie collected 13 digs, her second career game in double figures. She would also collect a pair of assists and six service aces, both new personal bests.
Alyssa Bucci (Rye Brook, N.Y./Blind Brook High School) finished with a career-high seven digs of her own, while
Katelyn Kamei (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools - The Priory) had six.
Offensively,
Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) and
Emily Brown (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) both finished with a team-best eight kills.
Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools) and
Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) were also frequent contributors on the night with six putaways each.
After
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) earned 13 assists in her lone set to begin the night,
Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) took over setter duties for the remainder of play, finishing with 16 assists and four digs.
The teams traded kills to open up the night before Brown logged her first kill of the evening to put the Valiants up 2-1. Back-to-back aces off Hernandez serves led the Valiants to an early 5-1 advantage and would remain in control the rest of the frame. The lead climbed to 9-2 on a four-point Manhattanville run that featured three straights aces by Jennings. Soon after, the Vals ran off another five straight points to move their lead up to 15-4. The Panthers were held to just two points while in control of the serve in the set as Manhattanville took care of business 25-14 in the opening frame.
The Valiants took a sizeable lead in the second set following a six point run. After a Hernandez kill tied the score up 3-3, Jennings continued her phenomenal night at the line with another two aces before the Panthers committed three straight attack errors, putting the Valiants up 8-3. The lead never fell below four and Manhattanville all but put the frame away with seven unanswered points to make the score 19-7. Manhattanville notched six of the final seven points, earning the set win 25-9 with a Ballagas kill.
A quick 9-2 start to begin set three by the Valiants set the tone for what would prove to be the final frame of the evening. The early cushion allowed Manhattanville to use a series of two- and three-point runs to march towards match point, with the last run of three unanswered points moving the score to 24-11. The Panthers logged one final point before an attack error awarded the Valiants match victory, 25-12.
Up Next
The four-match week resumes on Wednesday for another Skyline tilt when the Valiants head to Riverdale to take on Mount Saint Vincent at 6 p.m.
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