SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The Manhattanville women's volleyball team took a break from Skyline Conference play and traveled to upstate New York for a trimatch at Union College, splitting their matches against Union and Curry on Saturday at Viniar Athletic Center.
Match One: Manhattanville 1, Union 3 (25-19, 21-25, 14-25, 15-25)
After prevailing in the first set, the Valiants were unable to carry that momentum further into the contest, as the Garnet Chargers stymied the Manhattanville attack, taking the next three sets.
Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools) led the effort with 14 kills, closely followed by Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) and Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), with eleven and eight, respectively.
Vianca VItal recorded 38 assists, adding on ten digs for her eighth double-double of the season, as Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) led the backline with 14 digs.
In what opened to be back-and-forth action between the two squads, the Valiants found themselves with a 9-6 lead after Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) substituted into the match, capping off a three-point swing with a service ace. Seeing both teams trade blows, Manhattanville jumped out to a 15-10 lead after a Garnet Charger attack error, with Union then taking the next two points pinning the contest at 15-12. The Valiants then capitalized off a service error, to put the contest at 20-13, following a four-point swing. Union made the set close after cutting into the Manhattanville lead, but an attack error on Valiant set point gave the Vals the early 1-0 lead.
Union would then clamp down on the offensive end in the second set, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. The Valiants would claw back to make the score 5-6 after a Wildes kill, but the Garnet Chargers would not allow Manhattanville to get any closer the rest of the set, controlling the tempo of the contest and answering swiftly to the Vals efforts, taking the second set 25-21.
The Garnet Chargers would carry over the momentum built in the second set, establishing a quick 8-3 lead on the Valiants. Manhattanville would rattle off four straight points from Jennings services to pin the contest at 8-7, sitting one point away. After putting eight straight points on the scoreboard, Union would once again pull away from the Valiants, having the contest show 22-11, a deficit too much to mount for Manhattanville, having them sit one set away from victory.
Union continued to build on their attacking success, starting out the fourth set with a 4-0 lead, eventually building it to 12-5 over the Valiants. Manhattanville made things interesting after notching four straight points to pin the contest at 16-12, but the Garnet Chargers put their foot down, swinging it back in their favor for a 22-12 lead. They would eventually win the final set by a score of 25-15 as the Valiants had no response to their .298 hitting percentage.
Match Two: Manhattanville 3, Curry 0 (25-4, 26-24, 25-10)
The Valiants didn't let the loss simmer for long, putting together a dominant three-set sweep shortly after their loss earlier in the day.
Ruiz once again led the offensive output, putting together 15 kills, with Emily Brown (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) and Wildes following suit with seven and six kills, respectively.
Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) put together a career-best outing, registering 18 assists while Vital subsequently trailed with ten assists. Vital now sits just 37 assists away from becoming the all-time program leader in that category. Ballagas led in the digs department again with 17, as Rivera tallied a career-high seven digs.
The Valiants started the contest firing on all cylinders, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead capped off by a Vital service ace. Their lead would then grow to 8-1 after Ruiz continued her red-hot attacking day. Manhattanville continued to pile on the points, finding themselves with a comfortable 16-4 lead after a Hernandez spike. Alyssa Bucci (Rye Brook, N.Y./Blind Brook High School) would substitute into the contest, to help rattle off nine straight points from her services, polishing off the set with a Hernandez kill to capture the first set 25-4.
Manhattanville opened the second set, using the momentum of the first to mount a 3-0 lead after Rivera notched herself a service ace. After trading points the Valiants were up 7-3, leading to the Colonels swinging the contest back in their favor, embarking on a four-point run to tie the second set at nine all. The Valiants would take the lead back from AngelaRosa Garofalo's (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) services, but then surrender it right back to Curry, seeing the Colonels take their first lead of the contest, 14-13. Curry would try to pull away, but the Valiants put together a valiant effort and clawed back into the set, seeing it tie 23-23 and Manhattanville capture the final three points to take the second set 26-24.
In the third set, the Valiants demonstrated their dominance showcased in the first stanza, scoring seven straight points after the contest sat at 2-2, as Manhattanville capitalized on five errors from Curry. The Vals would then set up a 14-3 lead, after Sofia Morales (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) and Ruiz attacks. The Valiant lead would balloon to 20-6 after trading blows, seeing Manhattanville take the final five out of six points for the 25-10 victory.
The effort marked the Valiants ninth 3-0 sweep of the season.
Up Next
The Valiants return to conference play, embarking on a four-game conference road-trip beginning on Oct. 9 against St. Joseph's University Brooklyn.
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