PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's volleyball team went to the wire against the last undefeated team standing in the Skyline Conference on Tuesday night as the Valiants dropped a five-set decision to Sarah Lawrence. With a week remaining in the regular season, the loss (19-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 11-15) moves the Valiants to 8-10 overall and 5-3 in the Skyline, now situated in fifth in the conference standings.
Tuesday snapped a 16-match winning streak by the Valiants over the Gryphons that dated back to 1999. It marked just the second loss in program history to Sarah Lawrence, the last coming on Oct. 27, 1999 in Bronxville. Sarah Lawrence has now won 11 straight matches and improved to 22-2 on the year, standing 8-0 atop the Skyline standings.
Going five sets deep for the second time this season, the Valiant attack was steered by
Caylin Caballero (Eastvale, Calif./Walnut). The sophomore logged a career-high 26 kills and swung .308. Caballero added 10 digs for her third double-double of the season and also matched her season-high of three aces.
Ava Callaghan (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) joined her outside teammate with a double-double as the freshman ended the night with 14 kills and 16 digs.
Aurea Obradors (Barcelona, Spain/Benjamin Franklin International School) provided another nine putaways for the Valiant attack.
Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) led Manhattanville with 17 digs to eclipse 1,200 for her career.
Alana Rivera Torres (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) joined her libero and the Callaghan-Caballero duo in double digits defensively with 10 digs, adding a double-double of her own as she supplied 41 of Manhattanville's 56 assists. Another eight came via
Eva Becerra (West Covina, Calif./Walnut), while Jennings (four) and
Cassidy Fallon (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) (three) accounted for the remaining seven.
Fallon continued to be a menace in the front row with five blocks. She now leads the Skyline with 0.73 blocks per set with her third match this season with at least five rejections.
The Gryphons showed from the jump how they have run the table through the conference thus far, swinging .308 in the opening set. Manhattanville was limited to a .189 clip, but still were the beneficiaries of the first three-point run as a pair of Caballero kills and a Caballero-Fallon block put the Valiants up 8-5. The Gryphons responded with the next four points before Manhattanville scored another three straight to go back in front, 11-9. After continuing to seesaw the lead, the Valiants went on a four-point spurt to go up 19-17. Charlotte Siemsen regained the serve for Sarah Lawrence with a kill, kickstarting an 8-0 run to storm back and take the opener, 25-19.
Manhattanville responded with a match-best .343 attack percentage in the second, evening the match up at a set apiece with 14 kills to just two errors. However, the Gryphons did not make things easy, still hitting at .273. The Valiants seized momentum early with a 9-1 opening run, thanks for three aces and a pair of kills from Caballero. Sarah Lawrence chipped away at the deficit before coming all the way back with a 20-19 advantage following a three-point run. Manhattanville responded with three straight kills, one from
Samantha Andriola (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) and two more from Caballero, to retake the lead at 22-20. The Gryphons tied it up once more at 22-22, but Caballero delivered one more crucial kill ahead of a pair of Gryphon attack errors to give the Valiants the 25-22 win.
Both squads hit sub-.100 in the third. The Valiants took the largest lead of the early going with the first three points of the set after back-to-back kills by Caballero and an ace from Rivera Torres. The teams battled to nine tied scores up to a 16-16 stalemate. The Gryphons broke the draw with a 5-0 run, which the Valiants promptly answered with five-straight of their own to pull even once again at 21-12. After trading the next two points, Sarah Lawrence captured the set following a Caroline Combs kill, a Sophia Costa & Olivia Richard block and a Valiant attack error, winning 25-22.
After three tied scores opened the fourth with a 6-6 reading on the scoreboard, Manhattanville took a lead they would not surrender with an 8-2 run to jump out to a 14-8 advantage. The Valiants led by as many as seven, building up a 23-16 cushion. The Gryphons once again did not go down without a fight, scoring five of six as the Valiants reached set point, but a service error gave the Valiants a 25-21 win to send the match to a fifth-set breaker.
The Valiants won the serve on the coin toss and began the deciding set with kills from Caballero and Obradors. Sarah Lawrence responded in short order with two straight of their own, the first of five ties. Evened up at 7-7, the Gryphons seized the lead with a three-point run. The Valiants were able to pull back to within a point at a 12-11 deficit thanks to two final kills by Caballero and a Fallon-Obradors block combo, but a Valiant attack error opened the door for the guests, closing out the marathon on a three-point run to capture the win with a 15-11 final.
Up Next
The Valiants close out the week with their final two road games of the regular season, first traveling into the Bronx to take on Yeshiva on Thursday at 8 p.m.
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