NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's volleyball team successfully passed the first conference test of the season as the Valiants notched a straight three-set sweep over Yeshiva on Thursday night. The Valiants pull back to within one game of .500 on the year with the win (25-7, 25-12, 25-6), now sitting at 5-6 overall, with a 1-0 mark in the Skyline Conference.

The Valiants recorded their best offensive performance of the season on Thursday with a .341 attack percentage, logging 40 kills to just 11 errors. It was a breakout performance by Lea McIntyre (Lansingburgh, N.Y./Lansingburgh), as the rookie led Manhattanville with nine kills in her second career appearance. Loren Hernandez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/American Military Academy) added six kills across two sets of play, while Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Andrew's Schools), Emily Brown (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) and Meghan Wildes (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) each added five putaways in the winning effort.

Defensively, Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) recorded the second-most digs of her career, the most since September 2, 2023, with 17 digs in just two sets of action. Sofia Napolitano (Bronx, N.Y./Preston) also had a strong defensive outing with a career-high 10 digs, with Alyssa Bucci (Rye Brook, N.Y./Blind Brook High School) adding eight.

Alana Rivera (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) and Samantha Andriola (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) carried the load in the set game, totaling 29 of Manhattanville's 35 assists. Rivera finished with 16 sets along with seven digs, four kills and four aces in two sets, while Andriola collected 13 helpers with two kills and two digs.

For the second time this year, the Valiants logged 15 aces at the serving line. Jennings led the way with a season-high five aces, while Napolitano added three to join her and Rivera as the team's leaders on the night in the convincing victory.

The Maccabees recorded just three kills across the entire match, hitting negative in all three sets. The Valiants began the night with 12 unanswered points. From there, it was only a matter of when Manhattanville would claim the opening set point. Yeshiva got on the board following a pair of Valiant attack errors, but Manhattanville responded with a 7-0 run to go up 19-2. The Maccabees collected just one point while controlling the serve over the rest of the frame before kills by Hernandez and Sofia Morales (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) closing out the 25-7 opening frame.

The Valiants took a bit to get back into a rhythm in the second as a number of Manhattanville miscues put Yeshiva up 5-4. Manhattanville momentarily went ahead 7-5 before committing another ball handling error and an attack error to let the Macs pull even. The Valiants finally found the footing they were looking for as a kill from Brown began an 8-0 run to comfortably put Manhattanville in the lead. Yeshiva was unable to generate a multi-point run for the remainder of the frame, allowing the Vals to cruise to a 25-12 second set win. Franzhine Guloy (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection College Prep) delivered the final blow with a set-winning ace.

Manhattanville's attack was on full display in the third, hitting a match-best .481 with 15 kills. The Valiants scored eight straight points to open up play out of the break. Yeshiva attempted to claw back in to the match, cutting the lead down to four at 10-6, but the Valiants erupted for 15 unanswered points to secure the win, 25-6.

Up Next
The Valiants make their long-awaited home debut on Saturday, playing host for tri-match action. Manhattanville welcomes Misericordia and Ramapo into town with action inside Kennedy Gymnasium starting at 11 a.m.

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