WESTON, Mass. – The Manhattanville College men's volleyball team dropped a road contest at Regis on Friday evening, falling in four sets to the Pride. The Valiants fall to 1-3 overall in their inaugural season, with the loss.
The Valiant attack was evenly dispersed with
Wilton Martinez (Bronx, N.Y./Celia Cruz Bronx HS of Music),
Emil Morban Medrano (San Cristobal, Republica Dominicana/HS for Environmental Studies) and
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) each finishing with nine kills in the match. Gandarillas also continued to shine at the service line with four aces.
Medrano was also the Valiants' defensive leader in the match with 10 digs. Gandarilla,
Pedro Barros Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) and
Nash Torres (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) each dug six balls to compliment the defensive effort.
Idris Idris (Kassala, Sudan/JFK High School) and Machado combined for 27 of Manhattanville's 28 assists, with Idris accounting for 14.
Coming off their first win in program history on Wednesday, the Valiants carried the momentum wave to open up Friday's action as the visiting team took the opening set. The back-and-forth first framesaw 12 different tied scores with neither team able to piece together a run of longer than three points. Manhattanville took the largest lead of the opening set on the back of three-straight Regis errors to go up 13-10. After the Pride tied things up at 15-15, the Valiants put up another three straight points to reclaim the lead. The teams continued to match each other stride for stride leading up to Manhattanville's 23-21 lead. The Pride scored twice to tie things up, but a Gandarillas kill and Martinez ace gave the Valiants the opening set win, 25-23.
The Pride shook off their first set attacking struggles by hitting over .400 across each of the next three sets to claim the match victory. Tied at 3-3, the Pride went on the largest run of the early going with five straight points. Regis continued to lead until a 4-0 Manhattanville run put the Valiants up 13-12. The Pride scored four of the next five points to go back in front before the Valiants fought back to tie it up once again at 21-21. However, a Grant Wojcik kill was the first of four unanswered Regis points to take the set 25-21 and even the match up.
The Pride continued to improve on the night, earning 13 kills to just one error in the third set while the Valiants went cold, committing six errors to six kills. Manhattanville was limited to just four points while in control of the serve and never went on a run larger than two points in the frame. The Pride went up 5-3 on a Valiant service error and attack error and never surrendered the lead, eventually taking the set 25-18.
The Valiants fared marginally better in the fourth set with a .167 attacking percentage, but Regis once again hit better than .400 to take the set and the match. Despite the numbers discrepancy, the Valiants battled as they matched the Pride on nine separate occasions. Regis began to pull away with a 4-0 run to go up 16-12. Manhattanville made a late push to pull back within one at a 21-20 deficit, but the Pride scored four of the next five to notch the 25-21 win to take the match.
Up Next
The Valiants head to Rivier for a tri-match in Nashua, taking on the Raiders ahead of a neutral-site Skyline matchup against Ramapo. Manhattanville is scheduled to first take the court at 11 a.m.
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