DANBURY, Conn. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball team was unable to replicate their success from the opening night of the WestConn Inivtational in Saturday's action, falling twice in the day's matches. The Valiants dropped a five-set heartbreaker to Hunter before losing a three-set affair to host WestConn later on in the day. The Valiants fall to 3-6 overall following the losses.
Match One Recap: Manhattanville 2, Hunter 3 (25-15, 25-16, 25-27, 25-27, 13-15)
After taking the first two sets fairly convincingly, the Valiants were unable to put away Hunter as the Hawks came roaring back to take the next two sets in marathon efforts before outlasting Manhattanville in the deciding fifth.
Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) led the effort with her third double-double of the season, posting a season-high 17 kills with 19 digs. She was joined by a pair of first-year Valiants in double-figures as
Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) (14) and
Samantha Andriola (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) (11) rounded out the team's top attackers.
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) set a new season-high with 52 assists in the five set affair, notching her fourth double-double of the campaign with 11 digs.
Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) was once again the Valiants' defensive leader with 35 digs, also a new season-best.
After rattling off the first three points of the set, the Valiants never surrendered the lead in the opening frame. Kills from Hernandez, Jennings and
Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) put the Valiants ahead early, but it would take a little longer for Manhattanville to pull away from the Hawks. Leading 7-6, a Hunter service error brought control of the ball back on the other side of the court. Manhattanville added four consecutive points to go ahead 12-6. From there, the lead never dipped below four, while an 8-1 run in the tailend of the set helped the Valiants secure a 25-15 opening win.
The teams would exchange long runs to begin the second set. After Hunter notched the opening two points, the Valiants scored five straight to take the lead. This was answered by Hunter jumping back in front with five unanswered points of their own. A kill by Jennings kickstarted another five point swing for Manhattanville, part of an 11-2 run that put the Valiants in charge, 16-9. The Hawks narrowed the gap down to three at 18-15 before Manhattanville went up two sets to none on a 7-1 run to close out the frame.
After sporting negative hitting percentages in the first two sets, Hunter began their comeback by getting into the positives in set three. The Hawks ran out to a 6-1 lead, but the Valiants would eventually push the score even at 13-13. After Hunter retook the lead with two more points, a string of four straight by the Valiants put Manhattanville up for the first time in the set after the opening point, 17-15. From there, the teams battled to seven different tied scores as they matched each other stride for stride. Jennings would even the game up at 25-25 with a kill to send the set to extra points, but back-to-back kills by Tessa Winklemann and Lily Mattison got Hunter on the board with a 27-25 win.
The fourth set saw the Hawks' attackers continue to improve with a match-high 13 kills, hitting .171. The result was another back-and-forth affair, the teams trading points to a 5-5 tie. The Valiants would piece together the first run of the set with three straight points to go up 7-5. Their lead would climb up to four as they led 11-7, but Hunter ran off five straight points to close the gap and jump back in front. The score would be tied 12 more times before a winner was decided, with neither team being able to build a lead larger than two points for the remainder of the frame. It would once again take extra points for Hunter to claim the set, this time Kayla Treadwell putting away the set winner and sending the match to a breaker fifth set.
Despite hitting a match-high .250 in the fifth frame, the Valiants fell in a tight set as Hunter made just one attacking error. The Hawks jumped out to a 5-2 advantage before Manhattanville scored four straight points to begin a 6-1 run that put them up 8-6. Hunter once again tied things up at 8-8, the first of five ties to close out the match. After the Hawks had a response to every lead the Valiants would take, Hunter went on a three point run to go up 14-12, on the brink of victory. Andriola would record a kill out of a Valiant timeout to regain the serve, but an ensuing service error spelled the end of the match with Hunter claiming the set 15-13.
Match Two Recap: Manhattanville 0, WestConn 3 (19-25, 21-25, 22-25)
Following the heartbreaking loss in the day's opener, the Valiants were unable to take a set from the hosting WestConn to close out the weekend's invitational.
Hernandez once again led the attack with 12 kills, while
Sofia Morales (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) put away seven balls. Vital notched her second double-double of the day with a 28 assist, 17 dig effort, leading the team in both categories. Ballagas added another 15 digs, while
Katelyn Kamei (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools - The Priory) finished with seven digs of her own.
The Wolves opened the match with the first two points, quickly building up to an 11-3 lead that the Valiants would be unable to dig their way out of. Manhattanville put up a valiant effort, going on a seven point run to got the WestConn advantage down to 16-13, but it would prove to be too little, too late as the Wolves would hold the guests to just one more point while in control of the serve for the remainder of the set, taking the opener 25-19.
After their sluggish start in the set prior, the Valiants had a much stronger open to set two as they jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Manhattanville would continue to lead up to a 13-10 advantage, at which point the Wolves scored four straight to take their first lead of the frame. With the score tied 15-all, the Wolves took the lead on a service error and an attack error. The pair of Valiant miscues gave WestConn a lead they protected the rest of the way. The Valiants got back within one point four separate times but were unable to get back to even, falling 25-21.
The Valiants scored four straight to begin the third set and would lead for most of the early going, but a six-point string for the Wolves put WestConn up 16-12 in what would prove to be the final set. Manhattanville pulled back within two on several occasions, including a four-point run that moved the score to 24-22, but the Wolves called timeout to regroup and would win the match on the following volley after a bad Valiant set attempt hit the floor in no man's land, 25-22.
Up Next
The Valiants get their first look at Skyline Conference play when they return to the court on Wednesday night. It will be a rematch of the last three Skyline Championship finals as Manhattanville hosts USMMA at 7 p.m.
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