BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team continued their dominant play against the Skyline Conference with a three-set sweep of Saint Joseph's Brooklyn on Monday afternoon. The win (25-9, 25-10, 25-11) improves the Valiants' record on the season to 11-9, while the team moves to 6-0 in conference play, still having not dropped a set against a Skyline foe.

Loren Hernandez' (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) ten kills paced the attack effort, with the team hitting .351 as a unit. Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools) added eight putaways while Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) added six.

Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) had eight digs in her leading defensive performance across two sets of action. Hernandez added seven while rookie Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) finished with six digs.

Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) served as the team's primary setter across the first two sets, earning 24 assists. She gave way to Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) who closed out the match with six assists, while Jennings also added a pair. Vital also finished with a team-best three aces.

The Valiants limited the Bears to just four kills total across the entire match, all of which came in the third set. The home team's nine points in the opening frame would all come via Manhattanville errors. The lack of attacking success by Saint Joseph's allowed Manhattanville to quickly jump out to an 8-2 lead. A five point run featuring kills by Wildes and Ballagas and capped off by back-to-back aces by Ruiz pushed the Valiant advantage to 15-5. Five-point runs would pave the way to the end of the set as Manhattanville used a pair to take the set, 25-9. A pair of kills by Hernandez, one from Emily Brown (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) and two aces off the serve of Vital spelled an end to the frame and put the Valiants up 1-0.

Once again, the Bears would only record points in the second set following misplays and errors by the Valiants as they would be held without a kill. Much like the set prior, the Valiants quickly ran out to an 8-2 advantage and took firm control off a nine-point run that moved the score to 17-4. From there, Manhattanville methodically worked up towards set point, winning the frame 25-10 following a bad set by the Bears' Jillian McGinty.

While the Bears were finally able to record a kill in the third set, it did little to slow down the Valiants. Martina Urgo posted the home squad's first kill of the day to open up the frame before Manhattanville rattled off three straight points. With the score 5-5, Manhattanville scored five straight points to take what proved to be the final lead of the match. While the Bears were able to hang around and pull back to within three trailing 13-10, the Valiants delivered the final blow with 10 consecutive points. A service error brought an end to the run, but a Bear attack error put the Vals on match point, with Samantha Andriola (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) notching the match-winning kill with a 25-11 final set.

Up Next
Following their 4-1 road trip, the Valiants are back home for the first time since September on Thursday night to host Saint Joseph's Long Island at 6 p.m.

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