DALLAS, Pa. – The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team suffered a pair of 3-0 defeats on Saturday at the hands of No. 18 Buffalo State and host Misericordia in tri-match play. The pair of losses drops the Valiants to 1-6 on the year.
Match One Recap: Manhattanville 0, No. 18 Buffalo State 3 (23-25, 18-25, 19-25)
A week removed from playing 18
th-ranked Lasell, the Valiants opened Saturday's action by taking on the new No. 18 team in the country of Buffalo State. The Valiants hung tough with the high-caliber competition, but ultimately fell in a straight-set sweep.
Pedro Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) made plays all over the floor for the Valiants, leading the team with 14 assists, seven digs and three aces. His seven kills was also the third-highest for the Vals, his most since April 6, 2024 against Sarah Lawrence.
Trevor Kolar (South Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) added eight putaways, tied for his second most in a match this rookie season.
Machado handling primary setting duties with
Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton). Moon had 11 setups in two frames of action.
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) compiled six digs to finish behind the junior Machado. The hitter tandem of Simmons and Kolar added four digs apiece.
The Valiants led by as many as five in the opening set, leading 19-14 before the Bengals roared back with five-straight to tie the score for the first time since 10-10. Manhattanville went back in front after a Buffalo State attack error and Simmons kill, but four straight points from the Bengals put the Valiants in a 23-21 hold. A pair of kills from Simmons extended the set by tying things up at 23-all, but the Bengals held on with a kill and ace to take the first point.
Manhattanville hit a match-best .206 in the second, but could not keep up with Buffalo State swinging their best at .424. After the Valiants tied the score at 10-10, the Bengals won eight of the next ten rallies en route to a 25-18 win. The Valiant attack clip dropped to .174 in the third, unable to battle back from a late 6-1 Buffalo State run to fall 25-19 in the finale.
Match Two Recap: Manhattanville 0, Misericordia 3 (21-25, 20-25, 16-25)
The hosting Cougars were already riding high entering the day's final match after sweeping Buffalo State earlier in the day. Already running on fumes with their own battle against the Bengals, Manhattanville was unable to pick up a set in the backend of the two-straight matches.
Simmons again led the attack effort with nine kills. Kolar and Adiran Bonilla followed behind with four terminations each.
Machado retook the reigns as the sole primary setter, logging 18 of the team's 19 assists in the contest. He tacked on three more kills, a pair of aces and a dig to round out his solid day's work.
After being relatively limited in the opener,
Matt Diamond (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) finished with seven digs to lead the Valiants. Gandarillas added four, while Simmons dug out three balls of his own.
Misericordia hit .368 as a team, logging 34 kills to just nine errors. The Cougars opened set one on a 5-1 run and never gave up the lead. The second set was more touch-and-go to open with five different ties to open play. Knotted up at 7-7, the Cougars blew things open with nine of the next ten points and held off a late Valiant surge to close out the 25-20 win.
Misericordia went on to hit .500 in the third set. Despite the Valiants hitting a day-best .368, Manhattanville could not keep up after the Cougars rattled off six straight, ultimately winning 25-16.
Up Next
The Valiants return to Pennsylvania next weekend for the King's College Tri-Match, taking on the host Monarchs along with a neutral-site matchup with Hunter on Feb. 21.
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