MAHWAH, N.J. – The inaugural Manhattanville University men's volleyball season drew to a close on Tuesday night as the Valiants were defeated by third-seeded Ramapo in the opening round of the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament. Manhattanville's first season on the court concludes with a 13-17 record overall.
Wilton Martinez (Bronx, N.Y./Celia Cruz Bronx HS of Music) finished with a team-high seven kills as he wraps his freshman season with a team-leading 286 putaways on the year. He was followed just behind by
Pedro Barros Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) and
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East), who each logged five kills, while
Jacob Fletcher (Rocklin, Calif./Western Sierra Collegiate Academy) tallied four.
Speaking of Machado, he and
Idris Idris (Kassala, Sudan/JFK High School) both supplied 11 assists to account for 22 of the team's 24 total helpers on the night. Idris finishes the year with a team-leading 395 assists, while Machado's season total comes to a rest at 338.
The Valiants' Swiss Army knife of a utility player
Emil Morban Medrano (San Cristobal, Republica Dominicana/HS for Environmental Studies) finished the season as starting libero in the match, logging a team-leading 16 kills. Playing all over the court over the course of the year, Medrano finishes first on the team with 283 digs, second with 202 kills and fourth with 27 aces.
While the Valiants opened the night with a match-best .172 hitting percentage, the Roadrunners also got the contest off on a strong start as their .367 mark in the first set was their highest of the affair. The hitting discrepancy proved to be an uphill battle for Manhattanville as the team would be unable to keep pace with Ramapo for the duration of the set. After trading three early tied scores, the Roadrunners scored four of five point to go ahead 8-5. The Valiants closed the gap back down to a lone point, but the tide firmly shifted following a 4-0 Roadrunner run that put Ramapo up 14-9. The Valiants never got back within four the rest of the set as the Roadrunners took the first point with a 25-15 win.
Ramapo continued to hold a significant advantage in the hitting department in the second set, sporting a .308 percentage compared to Manhattanville's .037, but the Valiants did not go away quietly. Manhattanville was able to take advantage of the opportunities provided by Roadrunner mistakes, namely six service errors, to hang around with Ramapo through a majority of the set. The Roadrunners held an early 5-2 advantage before the Vals tied things up at 7-7. That was the first of six-straight tied scored as neither team could find separation up to a 12-12 lockup. The Roadrunners were finally able to get some breathing room with four straight points but Manhattanville stormed back once again to knot the score at 17-17. Ramapo found the killswitch off an 18-18 score with five straight points to go up 23-18. The Valiants finally faced a hole they couldn't climb out of in the set, ultimately falling 25-20.
Despite the strong effort given in the previous set, the Valiants' six error to six kills in the third set was not enough to keep pace with the explosive Ramapo attack. Tied 3-3, the Roadrunners scored six unanswered points to take a lead they would never surrender. Manhattanville's last gasp came in the form of a 4-0 run to move the score to 16-12, but the Roadrunners responded with five straight to go up by nine, ultimately taking the match 25-16.
The third-seeded Roadrunners advance to the Skyline Semifinals on Thursday to take on second-seeded New Jersey City.
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