BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team captures its first conference win on Tuesday night, defeating Sarah Lawrence in three sets. The win (25-15, 25-22, 25-23) snaps the Valiants' nine-game losing streak as the team improves to 3-12 on the year.
The Valiants hit .280 on the night to earn the sweep as
Emil Medrano (San Cristobal, Republica Dominicana/HS for Environmental Studies) and
Kyle Simmons (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) led the offensive effort as Manhattanville notched 40 total kills. Medrano put away 13 balls while Simmons added 11.
Kylan Gretczko (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) set a new season-high with seven kills to round out the top performers.
Simmons was also the Valiants' defensive leader with eight digs. Medrano and
Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton) followed just behind with seven digs apiece.
On the topic of Moon, the junior transfer led the Valiants with 32 of the team's 34 total assists. The other two came courtesy of
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East), who shined at the service line with six aces.
Justin Lau (Queens, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo) made his presence known at the net with four blocks.
Manhattanville played one of the most dominant sets in the program's two year history to open the night, hitting .611 to make quick work in the opening stanza. The Valiants committed just one error to 12 kills to get off to the hot start. Manhattanville opened on a quick 4-1 run and never looked back. Up 7-4, the Valiants rattled off four straight with a pair of aces by Gandarillas for their longest streak of the set. The Gryphons fired back with four straight of their own, but the three point deficit was the closest the home team would get over the remainder of the opener. The Valiants chipped their way toward set point, using another 4-0 run to go up 24-14, and survived their lone attack error of the set by winning the point 25-15 following a Sarah Lawrence attack error.
The Valiants were not able to carry over the red-hot attack effort over the ensuing two frames, leading to a pair of sets that went down to the wire. The Valiants ran off four straight points to open the second before the Gryphons quickly evened things up with a run of their own. The home side continued to score to take its first lead of the night, up 7-5. What would follow was a back-and-forth struggle with 11 tied scores, leading up to the Gryphons holding a 21-20 lead. The Valiants delivered the big blow with a clutch 4-0 run to get to set point, earning the win 25-22 following a tradeoff of service errors.
Despite hitting a match-low .029, the Gryphons were able to put up their best fight of the night in the 25-23 finale. The third saw nine more tied scores, although the teams were able to rattle off more runs than in the previous frames. The Valiants were the first beneficiaries of the sustained scoring, using a 4-0 run to go up 7-4. Sarah Lawrence responded with the next four points to take the lead as the tug-of-war followed. Neither team led by more than two leading up to a 16-16 tie when Manhattanville began to break away with a 5-1 run to go ahead 21-17. The Gryphons made it a one point game at 23-22, but it was too little, too late as kills from Medrano and Simmons brought an end to the affair with a 25-23 victory.
Up Next
The team is back home on Monday night to host Ramapo College at 7 p.m.
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