PURCHASE, N.Y - The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team took on another home match tonight in Kennedy Gymnasium. The Valiants went head-to-head with the University of Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins with Manhattanville closing out the match in three straight sets. The Valiants now stand at 7-13 overall and 5-3 in conference play.  

The Valiants opened the night with a 4-0 run. The Dolphins tried to fight their way back play by play, but it ultimately was not enough. The closest Mount Saint Vincent could get set one was within three points at 6-2 and 6-3 in the opening minutes of the contest. Manhattanville eventually found an offensive rhythm with a 6-0 run starting at 9-18. Three attack errors from the Dolphins and a kill and service ace from Emil Medrano (San Cristobal, Republica Dominicana/HS for Environmental Studies) pushed the score to 9-22. Mount Saint Vincent delivered two more kills before the Valiants notched three more points to close out the first set. 

The Dolphins saw their only lead of the match in the opening minutes to begin set two. A kill from James Rose put Mount Saint Vincent up to 3-1. Kills from Justin Lau (Queens, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo) and Kyle Simmons (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) quickly leveled the score at 3-3. The Valiants and Dolphins continued to play tag with points tying the set two more times before Manhattanville maintained a lead of three or more points at 11-8. The Valiants fulfilled a four-point run with two back-to-back kills from Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) to extend the score to 17-11. Mount Saint Vincent rallied to notch the closest score they would see in set two finishing out at 25-18.  

Manhattanville showed their full hand with a dominating third and final set. Holding the Dolphins to single digits, the Valiants capped off the contest with a 25-9 final stanza. The Valiants saw eleven kills compared to the Dolphins three to help advance Manhattanville in the win column.   

Mount Saint Vincent struck on the higher end in attack errors and reception errors which helped the Valiants extend the score in each set. The Dolphins posted 26 attack errors compared to Manhattanville's 10 and six reception errors in contrast to the Valiants zero.  

Medrano led the squad in kills with nine. Simmons and Lau followed closely behind with seven and five kills to lead the Valiants in scoring. Jake Rothluebers, Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton) and Luis Granados (Pasadena, Calif./St. Francis) all hit 1.000 percent for the night in their impressive offensive efforts. 

Evan Rapp (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) had a noteworthy night with 10 digs. Medrano trailed narrowly with nine digs and Gandarillas tallied six.    

Moon tallied 22 assists for the night. He now stands at 349 this season, just 47 away from the single season and career record with ten more regular season matches to go. 

Up Next 

The Valiants are back at home in Kennedy Gymnasium to face off against Yeshiva University on March 17.  

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