PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team concluded its regular season home schedule Monday night in celebration of the Valiants' one senior member. While Manhattanville was ultimately taken down in three-straight sets, the team showed a strong fight against the Skyline Conference's top team to nab momentum entering Wednesday night's regular season finale.

The Valiants honored Jake Rothluebbers (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union High School) as part of the pregame commemoration, celebrating his contributions to the men's volleyball program for the past two seasons. Rothluebbers tallied nine kills and with a .136 hitting percentage all while adding five digs on his part defensively.  

Kyle Simmons (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) and Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) had a night logging 10 kills each. Gandarillas locked in a .320 hitting percentage while Simmons notched a .083 hitting percentage. The duo stuck together defensively as well collecting eight digs each in the match. Evan Rapp (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) joined his teammates also collecting eight digs on the night.  

Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton) put up an impressive 29 assists throughout the duration of the match to aid in the Valiants 60 total points and 37 total kills.  

The match featured tightly contested sets with both teams fighting for each point. SJLI started off hot with a quick 4-0 run with three kills and a Valiant attack error to aid them. Manhattanville took a few points to get hot, tying the first set at 6-6 with a returned attack error from the Golden Eagles. The Valiants suffered five attack errors compared to SJLI's four throughout the first set. Manhattanville kept the score within reach, tying again at 10-10 before the Golden Eagles took a six-point run to extend the score to 16-10. The Valiants would continue to see a lead from SJLI greater than a five-point differential for the remainder of the first stanza. 

Struggling to match the pace of the Golden Eagles in the first set, Manhattanville saw the lead for the first time in the opening points of set two. The Valiants took a 5-2 lead with kills from Simmons and Rothluebbers and attack errors from SJLI right off the bat. The teams continued to exchange quick points leading to seven ties throughout the second sets. The Valiants and Golden Eagles went point-for-point until SJLI was able to open the contest with a five-point lead at 20-15. The Valiants found themselves outpaced by the relentless Rythm of the game closing out the second set, 25-18.  

Both teams showed little signs of slowing down as squads traded points to start the third and final set. Manhattanville took charge, leading for a majority of the set. Two kills each from Simmons and Gandarillas pushed the Valiants to a five-point lead at 10-5. SJLI closed in on Manhattanville tying the contest at 12-13 before the Valiants were able to pull back ahead until 20-19. The Golden Eagles persevered past the close set and came back from formidably being down a majority of the third set. SJLI came back to close out the match 25-23.    

Up Next 

Manhattanville takes on Purchase College on Wednesday night for their final regular season match of their 2025 campaign.  

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