OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Concluding a stretch of four-straight conference matchups, the Manhattanville College women's volleyball team continued their winning ways on Thursday night with a three set sweep of Old Westbury. The win (25-12, 25-16, 25-20) is the Valiants' fifth in a row, improving the team's overall record to 14-9 while remaining in sole possession of first place in the Skyline Conference standings with a 9-0 conference record.

Samantha Andriola (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) had one of her finest Valiant performances in the contest, leading the team with a career-high 15 digs while adding nine kills and a pair of assists. She was following in the defensive effort by Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) and Nina Melchiorri (Belle Harbor, N.Y./Scholars' Academy) who both finished with 12 digs.

Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) piloted the offense with a 12 kill effort. Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) notched a new season high of 10 putaways, finishing just ahead of Andriola. Emily Brown (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) was also a key feature of the attack effort with six kills.

Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) was the Valiants' setter on the night, contributing 31 of the team's 36 assists. She added seven digs and a pair of aces, trailing only Andriola and Jennings' four aces on the night.

The Valiants immediately ran out to a 5-0 lead to open the match and would never look back. A six-point Manhattanville run a short while after advanced the score to 13-3, prompting a Panther timeout. While unable to replicate the long runs for the remainder of the set, the Valiants had more than enough distance to successfully take the first set on an Andriola kill, 25-12.

A Panther attack error and Hernandez kill had Manhattanville up once again to begin the second frame. After the score climbed to 6-4 in favor of the Valiants, the visiting team strung together four straight points thanks to a pair of Kills from Hernandez, one from Wildes and an ace by Andriola to go up 10-4. Old Westbury would be unable to get back any closer than a four point gap as another 4-0 run for Manhattanville had the Valiants leading 21-13. Old Westbury would score just three more points in the set before Hernandez killed a ball for set point, logging a 25-16 victory to go up two frames to none.

Old Westbury would take their first lead of the night to begin set three as the Panthers opened up with a 4-3 advantage. The lead would be short lived as the Valiants scored the next six points to seize momentum and go ahead 9-4. As the Valiant lead would peak at seven points up 17-10, the Panthers refused to go down without a fight. Manhattanville would be unable to score more than two consecutive points for the rest of the match as the Panthers cut the gap down to four. Still, it was too little, too late fo the home team, as a service error put the Valiants on match point. A Manhattanville attack error momentarily kept Old Westbury alive with the score 24-20, but Brown put an end to the contest with a kill in the following rally to secure the win, 25-20.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Pennsylvania on Saturday for a trimatch at Misericordia. Manhattanville takes to the court for matches at 12 and 2 p.m.

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