PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team picked up its first win of the 2026 campaign on Thursday night, logging a straight-sweep of visiting Pratt Institute. The Valiants climb to 1-3 on the young season with the victory (25-12, 25-10, 25-15).
Manhattanville swung .355 in the win, their highest team mark since hitting .365 in a win over Yeshiva on March 23, 2025.
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) led the attack effort with 10 kills, his first time on the season reaching double figures. The junior also recorded his first six aces of the season, matching his single-match career-high.
Kyle Simmons (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) (six) and
Adrian Bonilla (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Baldwin School of Puerto Rico) (five) wrapped up as Manhattanville's leading attackers.
Matt Diamond (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) finished with a team-high six digs in her pair of sets serving as libero.
Evan Rapp (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) handled the duties in the second set and added four digs, tied with Gandarillas and
Trevor Kolar (South Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) for the second-most on the team in the win.
The setting efforts ran through the three-headed monster of
Luca Peterson (Boston, Mass./Newton North),
Pedro Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) and
Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton). Each player took to the court for a set, with Peterson collecting 12 assists, Machado logging eight and Moon adding six.
Justin Lau (Queens, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo) also shined on the serve line with five aces for a new personal high.
Manhattanville came out firing, swinging .556 in the first set for a new single-set high for the season. After dropping the opening rally on an attack error, the Valiants scored 11 of the next 13 points to take the comfortable lead. Pratt was limited to just a single two-point run, unable to get anything going on the offensive side. The Valiants reached set point following kills from Bonilla and Gandarillas and a Cannoneer attack error, and while Pratt was able to extend things with an Arturo Mata kill, an ensuing service error gave the Valiants the 25-13 win.
The Valiants only logged six kills in the second but still hit a strong .313 with only one error as Pratt hit a match-low -0.16. Simmons and Gandarillas logged two of the kills back-to-back to open the new frame, kickstarting an 11-2 run. Lau had three aces in the burst while Gandarillas had two, aided by two Pratt attack errors and a service error. The Cannoneers once again could not string together more than two points together as Manhattanville used a pair of 4-0 runs to close out another one-sided frame, with a pair of Gandarillas aces sandwiched by two Pratt miscues to give the Valiants the 25-10 win.
The home side broke the third wide open with five straight points to take a 10-4 advantage. The Cannoneers stayed within punching distance at four, trailing 15-11, but the Valiants delivering their final blow with nine of the next 12 points to reach match point at 24-12. Griffin Benkovszky extended the match with Pratt's final kill of the night, but
Fernando Martinez (Hartsdale, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) delivered the match-winner with his lone putaway to cap off the 25-15 finale.
Up Next
The Valiants hit the road to Massachusetts over the weekend, taking on Lasell at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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