PURCHASE, N.Y. – The first Senior Night in program history was one to remember as the Manhattanville College men's volleyball team outlasted neighboring Purchase on Monday night in a five-set thriller. The win (25-21, 25-14, 16-25, 20-25, 19-17) has the Valiants opening the final week of the regular season on the right foot, improving to 11-15 overall and 7-8 in Skyline Conference action, currently holding onto the sixth and final playoff spot in the conference standings.
Prior to opening serve, the team honored
Luis Granados (Pasadena, Calif./St. Francis) ahead of his graduation in May. Granados played an integral role in the development and growth of the team in its inaugural season following his three years on the men's soccer team. Granados finished with six kills, six total blocks and a pair of digs in the marathon win.
Wilton Martinez (Bronx, N.Y./Celia Cruz Bronx HS of Music),
Idris Idris (Kassala, Sudan/JFK High School) and
Pedro Barros Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) all posted double-doubles in the victory. Martinez finished tied for the team-lead in kills alongside
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) as the pairing both logged 13 kills while Martinez added 14 digs. Idris, meanwhile, led the way with 28 assists while adding ten digs on the defensive end.
Machado logged ten kills while also contributing heavily in the role of setter with 18 assists, his second collegiate double-double.
In addition to his leading kill effort, Gandarillas notched a team-high five aces along with six digs and a pair of block assists.
The Valiants were in control through the first two sets, logging 23 kills to 10 errors. Manhattanville hit .194 in the opening frame to take the first set point as the Panthers just managed to stay positive with seven kills to six errors. It was three runs to open up the night as the Valiants scored the first three points before the Panthers rattled off five straight of their own. Manhattanville responded with the next four, capped off by a pair of Gandarillas aces to go up 7-5. The Valiants never surrendered the lead despite Purchase closing the gap to a single point on three separate occasions. Up 14-12, the Valiants went on an extended 8-3 run to take its largest lead of the frame at seven, 22-15. Purchase made a late run, scoring six of the next eight points to pull back within three, but time ran out as Machado capped off the set win with a kill set up by Idris.
Manhattanville continued to attack well with a .240 clip in the second as Purchase went cold with a -.179 rate. With the Panthers up 5-3 early, Manhattanville scored eight straight points to begin a 15-2 run that built out an insurmountable 18-7 advantage. Purchase had no response to the run, scoring just twice while in control of the serve as the Valiants closed out the 25-14 win.
The tale of the first two sets seemed to point to an incoming three-set sweep for the home team, but the Panthers eliminated mistakes over the next two frames to tie things up and force a fifth set. Purchase logged 21 kills to just four errors across the third and fourth sets as the Valiants were unable to replicate their earlier attacking success. Purchase got on the board with a 25-16 win in set three before tying things up with a 25-20 victory in the fourth.
With their lead evaporated, the Valiants bent but didn't break and saved their best for last with a .304 hitting percentage in the fifth set, posting nine kills to two errors. Despite the Panthers hitting just .080, the Valiants couldn't put the neighbors from up Anderson Hill Road away so easily. Manhattanville scored the first four points before building up to a 7-2 advantage. The Panthers got two points back before a service error put the Valiants ahead 8-4 as the teams switched sides. Manhattanville's lead peaked at a five-point advantage at 10-5 with the team ultimately arriving at match point up 14-10 off a kill by Machado. With the match hanging in the balance, the Panthers erupted for five straight points to go up 15-14 and sit at their own match point. A pair of Panther errors put the Valiants back on match point up 16-15, but the Panthers refused to go away en route to a 17-17 tie. A kill from Martinez once again put the Valiants within grasp of victory for the fourth time, The team finally found the putaway shot as Gandarillas logged the match-winning kill to take the set 19-17.
Up Next
After Monday night's thriller, the teams will run in back on the other end of Anderson Hill Road tomorrow with a 6 p.m. match time from Purchase.
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