PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's volleyball team ended the week on a two-match winning streak on Sunday, defeating Yeshiva University in a three-set sweep. With two weeks left to go in the regular season, Manhattanville stands in fourth place in the Skyline Conference standings with a 6-4 mark in conference play and 7-12 overall.
The Valiants dedicated Sunday's match to breast cancer awareness. The team wore pink shirts for warmups and held signs identifying those in their lives who they were playing for that had been impacted by the disease.
The Valiants hit over .200 as a collective for a second-straight match and for the third time in their last four contests. Manhattanville's 43 kills marked the team's third-highest total in a match this season and is the most the Valiants recorded in a three-setter this year. The barrage was piloted by
Trevor Kolar (South Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) and
Joe Gandarillas (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem HS East) combining for 25 of the putaways. Kolar reached double-digits for the sixth time in his rookie season with 14 kills, while Gandarillas' 11 put him in double-figures for the sixth time as well of his junior campaign, continuing to pace the Valiants with 149 on the year.
Pedro Machado (Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil/Colegio Oficina) supplied seven kills while leading the defensive effort with 11 digs.
Matt Diamond (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) added seven digs out of the libero slot, a total matched by Gandarillas.
Luca Peterson (Boston, Mass./Newton North) and
Mason Moon (Rockport, Texas/Rockport-Fulton) combined for 34 of the Vals' 41 assists. Peterson's 20 assists was his most in nearly a month, matching his total against Sarah Lawrence on Feb. 25. Moon, meanwhile, surpassed 200 assists on the season with his 14 in Sunday's win.
Manhattanville logged 10 aces at the service line, with four coming courtesy of
Camillo Maiocco (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining).
After Yeshiva began the day with four of the first five points, the Valiants rattled off five-straight points thanks to a pair of Maiocco aces, kills from Kolar and Gandarillas, and a Yeshiva attack error. The 6-4 lead would not last long as the Maccabees claimed three of the next four points to jump back in front. Locking up at a 10-10 tie, the Valiants began to pull away with a 7-1 run to put the home side up 17-11. Manhattanville led by as many as seven at 19-12 before Yeshiva made up some ground to move the score to 20-17. Kolar, Gandarillas and
Justin Lau (Queens, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo) supplied back-to-back-to-back kills to regain distance as the Valiants withstood one last two-point spurt by Yeshiva, claiming the 25-19 opening win on an attack error and a ace from Lau.
The Maccabees opened with another strong start, claiming a 6-3 lead. The Valiants tied the set at 7-7 before Yeshiva nabbed the next two points. A kill from Lau opened a string of six-straight Manhattanville points as part of a larger 8-1 run that suddenly had the home side up 15-10. Yeshiva responded in short order with the next four to make it a one-point set, but the Maccabees could not overcome the final hurdle. The visitors were within one point of the Valiants on three separate occasions before Manhattanville took the would-be tying rallies. A 4-1 burst gave the Valiants enough separation to close things out, winning 25-21 on a Machado termination.
Manhattanville swung a match-high .414 in the third with their strongest display of the afternoon. Despite the gaudy numbers, the runs were hard to come by as Manhattanville never scored more than two points in a row up to a 17-12 lead. The Maccabees got the next point to regain control of the serve, prompting a substitution to bring Gandarillas onto the floor for the first time in the set. He immediately delivered with a kill to kickstart a 4-0 run as Manhattanville went on to cruise to the 25-16 victory on Kolar's final putaway of the affair.
Up Next
The Valiants are back home Wednesday night to host neighboring Purchase at 6 p.m.
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