Lady Jaspers Come Up Just Short In Home Opener

Box Score 

RIVERDALE, N.Y. ? The Manhattan College volleyball team is getting closer and closer by the match to its first win of 2008.  Unfortunately, the Lady Jaspers can't seem to get over that hump.  Manhattan (0-7) had two match points on Wednesday night before falling to Lafayette (4-7) 24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 25-11, 16-14 in its home opener at Draddy Gymnasium.

The Lady Jaspers came out on fire, hitting an impressive .311 (19 kills, five errors, 45 attempts) in the opening set.  After the teams traded the first 13 points of the match, Manhattan used a 9-3 run to open up a 16-9 advantage.  Lafayette responded with an 11-4 run of its own to force a 20-20 deadlock.  Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) followed with a kill and a block that started a 4-0 Manhattan rally that brought the Lady Jaspers to set point at 24-20.  Lafayette refused to give in, however, fighting off all four set points to force a 24-24 tie.  Manhattan stopped the rally to earn its fifth set point, then put away a 26-24 win on a block by Welsh and Jackie Kapovich (Downers Grove, Ill.).  There were six ties in the first set, but Manhattan never trailed.

Lafayette took control early in the second set, going on an 8-3 run to turn a 2-2 tie into a 10-5 advantage.  Manhattan rallied back to within 12-11 before the Leopards went on another run to go in front 22-17.  The Leopards won the set, 25-19, to even the match at 1-1.

With the third set knotted at 21-21, Manhattan's Sherryta Stokes (Beltsville, Md.) took over.  She posted a block, then two kills on three successive plays to get the Lady Jaspers to set point at 24-21.  Lafayette momentarily stopped Manhattan's momentum, but Stokes slammed another kill, her 10^th of the set, on the next play to seal a 25-22 win that gave the Lady Jaspers a 2-1 match lead.  Stokes had 10 of Manhattan's 18 kills in the set, which was the Lady Jaspers' best offensive set of the season.  Manhattan hit .366 in the frame, making just three errors in 41 third-set attacks.

It was all Lafayette in the fourth set.  The Leopards scored the first four points, then opened up leads of 11-2 and 17-4.  With Lafayette leading 21-6, consecutive Manhattan blocks ignited a mini-rally that pulled the Lady Jaspers within 21-9, but Lafayette scored the next three points to earn a handful of set points.  Manhattan fought off the first two before a Kayly Elmer kill capped Lafayette's 25-11 triumph that sent the Lady Jaspers into the fifth set for the second straight match.  The Leopards hit .375 (16-4-32) in the fourth set, while Manhattan hit -.065 (5-7-31).

The fifth set featured seven ties and five lead changes, as the biggest lead either side was able to build was Lafayette's early 6-3 advantage.  Manhattan stormed back with four straight points to take a 7-6 lead before Lafayette made it 10-10.  The Leopards scored the next point to regain the lead, but kills by Alyssa Getzel (Richmond, Va.) and Jen Haggerty (Springfield, Pa.) followed by an error by Lafayette's Ally Taylor put Manhattan in front 13-11.  After Elmer's kill pulled the Leopards within 13-12, Stokes pounded her 19^th kill of the match to give Manhattan its first match point.  Consecutive kills by Elmer erased both of Manhattan's opportunities, then Ashton Rossi served an ace to give the Leopards their first match point at 15-14.  After a Manhattan timeout, Rossi served another ace to cap Lafayette's five-set victory.

Stokes registered her third straight double-double with 19 kills and 12 digs.  Andrea Reiff (Hawthorne, N.Y.) had a double-double with 10 kills and 21 digs.  She added four blocks and five assists.  Getzel dished out 46 assists and notched 18 digs, while Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) recorded 15 digs.  Welsh had her best match of the season with 15 kills and six blocks.  As a team, Manhattan hit .206 (61-25-175) in the match.  The Lady Jaspers out-blocked the Leopards 10-7 and out-dug Lafayette 78-74.

Elmer hit an excellent .444 for the Leopards, tallying a match-high 21 kills and committing only one error in 45 attempts.  She also recorded 15 digs.  Ally Taylor had 12 kills and hit .556 for Lafayette, while Alana Taylor posted 11 kills and four blocks.  Megan Carter led the Leopards with 26 assists, and Rossi recorded 20 assists, 14 digs and three aces.  Kari Horn had 18 digs for Lafayette.  The Leopards hit .249 (63-21-169) as a team in the match.