NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Competing at the final day of the New Paltz Hawks Challenge Invitational, the Manhattanville College women's volleyball team dropped both matches of their doubleheader on Saturday. The Valiants fell in four sets to host New Paltz before suffering a three-set sweep at the hands of No. 25 Ithaca. The losses drop Manhattanville to 4-8 overall.

Match One Recap: Manhattanville 1, New Paltz 3 (8-25, 20-25, 25-16, 23-25)
The Valiants dropped the opener of Saturday's action in four sets to the hosting Hawks, dropping to 2-13 lifetime against the SUNYAC institution.

Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) took point as the offensive leader in the loss, logging 13 of the team's kills. She would also lead the team in digs with 10 for her fifth double-double of the year. Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools) notched eight putaways while Sofia Morales (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) collected four.
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro) earned 24 of the team's 27 total assists in the match. The graduate setter added three kills, a pair of aces and nine digs. Here dig total was matched by countrymate Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School).

Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) led the Manhattanville serving effort with three aces, tied for her season high.

It was a rough start to the early morning for the Valiants as the Hawks began the match with a 25-8 first set victory. New Paltz hit a staggering .409 in the opening frame compared to Manhattanville's -.042 attack percentage. The Valiants would kill just three balls in the set and were unable to mount a response to the Hawks' 15-3 run that put the home team up 19-5. Manhattanville would earn just one point while in control of the serve in the entire set as New Paltz put an exclamation on the dominant set with five straight points to earn the win.

Things didn't start much better in the second set as the Hawks scored seven unanswered points to jump out to a 7-1 lead. While the Valiants would be unable to completely close the gap, the team showed a strong bounce-back effort following the way the match started. Trailing 16-17, the Vals pieced together their first sustained run of the day with four straight points to pull back within five. Manhattanville refused to go away quietly as they would cut the deficit down to four at 22-18 and 24-20. While it was a strong display, the score was not on the Valiants' side as Letisha Perez would log a kill to put the Hawks up two sets to none, 25-20.

The Valiants' attacking efforts continued to improve as they would commit just one error to 10 kills for a .300 percentage in set three to get on the board. Three straight points put the Valiants ahead from the start. Up 7-5, the Valiants scored six unanswered points thanks to a pair of aces by Jennings, two kills from Hernandez and a pair of attacking miscues by the Hawks to go up by eight. While New Paltz went on a run late with five straight points to cut the Valiants' advantage down to 22-16, a pair of kills from Ruiz and an Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) ace earned the set for the Valiants, 25-16.

The fourth set would prove to be the tightest of the contest with eight separate lead changes. A 4-2 start to the frame for the Valiants would put the guests ahead, building the lead up to 11-8. After the Hawks evened the score with three straight points, New Paltz would take a 13-12 lead. Manhattanville scored four of the next five to jump back ahead before a four point run from the Hawks shifted the lead on the other side of the court. After four more tied scored, the Valiants went up 23-21 off of kills from Hernandez and Ruiz. New Paltz would get a crucial kill from Mackenzie Williams to regain control of the serve before scoring the final three points of the affair to claim the match with a 25-23 win.

Match Two Recap: Manhattanville 0, No. 25 Ithaca 3 (15-25, 11-25, 14-25)
Competing against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2019, the Valiants would drop the backend of Saturday's action to No. 25 Ithaca in three sets.

Ruiz and Hernandez once again were the leading attackers, combining for 17 of the team's 24 total kills. The junior Ruiz finished with nine putaways while sophomore Hernandez had eight.

Vital added 19 assists to conclude her weekend, while Ballagas was the defensive leader in the contest for the Valiants with 15 digs.

The loss was the first match this season that the Valiants failed to score at least 20 points in a set.

While the Valiants were able to hang around with the Bombers for the early going, an 11-2 Ithaca run would firmly put Manhattanville behind the eight ball, down 18-7. The Valiants scored just two points while in control of the serve as the Bombers continued to build upon their lead en route to a 25-15 opening set win.

It was a hot start for Manhattanville in set two as a pair of Vital service aces sandwiched between two Hernandez kills put the Valiants up 4-0. However, the Bombers showed why they are ranked as they scored six straight points to erase the Manhattanville lead. Ithaca never looked back from there, once again limiting the Valiants' opportunities with the serve as they piled up runs, ultimately taking the second set 25-11 off a Faith Sabatier putaway.

The Valiants hit -.04 in the third set, unable to keep pace with the Bombers' attacking efforts. With the score tied at 7-7. Ithaca scored three straight points. The Valiants were able to get two of their own on the board following a Bomber attack error and bad set, but a string of eight straight points for Ithaca put Manhattanville in an 18-9 hole. Ithaca would go on to work their way towards match point, claiming set three by a 25-14 final.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Newburgh on Tuesday night for a Skyline Conference matchup against Mount Saint Mary.

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