DUDLEY, Mass. – Kayla Jennings (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) joined the 1,000 digs club, but the senior's defensive effort was not enough for the Manhattanville University women's volleyball team on Friday night as the Valiants fell to Nichols College, 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 21-25, 20-25). Manhattanville falls to 2-4 with the loss.
Entering the night with 973 digs for her career, Jennings supplied a career-high 38 on Friday night to lead all players across both squads. With her 27
th of the night, the Valiant libero became the 11
th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, the first since 2023 when current Valiant head coach
Vianca Vital along with all-time dig leader Grace Ballagas both surpassed the mark. Jennings ended the night with 1,011 total digs, 24 shy of matching Monica Lopez for the tenth-most by a Valiant.
Alongside Jennings' performance, Manhattanville received double-digit kills from
Ava Callaghan (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) and
Cassidy Fallon (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster). The rookie Callaghan set a new personal-high with 16 terminations in her fourth career match, also earning her first double-double with 12 digs. Fallon, meanwhile, followed up her nine-block effort the last time out against Hunter with 12 kills to set a career-best benchmark for herself as well.
Alana Rivera Torres (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista de Guaynabo) provided 36 of Manhattanville's 45 total assists, also earning a double-double as she contributed 15 digs on the defensive end. Another six assists came courtesy of Jennings to add on to her decorated night.
Adding on to the night of career-highs,
Izzy Mojica (Tolland, Conn./The Woodstock Academy) supplied eight kills, improving upon her previous best of seven recorded last October against Mount Saint Vincent.
In a back-and-forth opening frame that needed extra points to determine a winner, the teams battled to seven different tied scores before the Valiants broke a 13-13 stalemate with five of the next six points to pull ahead, 18-14. Nichols responded in short order with seven of the ensuing eight to jump back in front at 21-19. With Manhattanville continuing to trail at 22-20, kills from Fallon and Callaghan along with a set error by the Bison flipped the advantage once again. The sides battled to a score of 25-all, where the Bison were able to finally put things away with an Ella Pratt block and Sofia Novak kill to take the opener, 27-25.
Manhattanville swung a match-high .128 in the second to even the match up at a set apiece. The Valiants broke a 5-5 tie with a prolonged 7-2 run to jump ahead, maintaining the five-point spread at 20-15. The Bison came back to life by taking seven of the next eight rallies to take its first lead since the opening point of the frame, but the Valiants withstood the blow by rebounding with four of the final five, ending the set on a three-point spurt capped off by
Samantha Andriola's (Garden City South, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) frame-winning kill at 25-23.
The Valiants were unable to replicate their second-set success, hitting below .060 across the remaining two frames. Manhattanville was able to fight back from a 4-0 hole in the third, eventually taking a 17-16 lead, but the hosts rattled off four-straight points to go back ahead en route to a 25-21 win. The Bison took control in the fourth with a 7-0 run to jump out to a 12-5 lead, a hill too steep for the Valiants to climb back up, ultimately falling 25-20.
Up Next
The Valiants are back home on Tuesday night, hosting Kean at 6 p.m.
