Manhattan Comes From Behind for Second Straight MAAC Win

Box Score 

JERSEY CITY, N.J. ? Five-set matches are starting to become commonplace for the Manhattan College volleyball team.  So is the thrill of winning them.  The Lady Jaspers (2-9, 2-1 MAAC) fought off four match points in the fourth set before coming back from two-sets-to-one down to post their second straight five-set conference victory, 17-25, 30-28, 16-25, 27-25, 15-11, over Saint Peter's (5-9, 1-2 MAAC) at the Yanitelli Center on Saturday afternoon.  It marked the fourth time in the last six matches that Manhattan has gone the distance.

Manhattan jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but Saint Peter's charged back to force a 10-10 tie.  The Peahens then went on a 3-0 rally to take the lead, 13-10.  Manhattan scored the next two points to get within 13-12, but Saint Peter's responded with a 5-1 run to run its advantage back to five at 18-13.  Saint Peter's maintained that advantage for the rest of the set, posting a 25-17 win.  The Peahens didn't commit a hitting error in the first set, hitting an exceptional .571 (12 kills, 21 attempts).  Manhattan also performed well offensively, hitting .357 (13-3-28) in the set.

After Saint Peter's took a 5-3 lead in the second set, Manhattan rallied for five straight points to take an 8-5 advantage.  The Lady Jaspers extended their lead to 14-10 before Saint Peter's rallied back to tie it at 16-16.  The squads traded points from there, and Manhattan earned the first set point when a kill by Jackie Kapovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) made the score 25-24 in favor of the Lady Jaspers.  The Peahens fought off that set point, then earned one of their own before back-to-back Manhattan kills gave the advantage back to the Lady Jaspers.  Manhattan had two more set point opportunities before finally putting it away, 30-28.  Both teams continued their hot hitting in the second set.  Manhattan hit .378 (22-5-45) in the set and Saint Peter's hit .310 (17-4-42).

Saint Peter's dominated the third set.  Manhattan built an early 3-1 lead, but it was all Peahens from there.  The Peahens went on a 4-0 run to take the lead, then extended that advantage to 9-5.  After Manhattan scored a point on a kill by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.), the Peahens tallied the next seven points to run their lead to 15-6.  Leading 18-10, the Peahens went on a 6-2 rally to get to set point.  Manhattan fought off five set points before Saint Peter's closed it out, 25-17, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

It was the Peahens who took the early lead in the fourth set, going in front 3-1.  Manhattan scored the next four points to take a 5-3 lead, but three straight Saint Peter's points put the Peahens back in front, 6-5.  The Lady Jaspers responded with a 9-2 run that gave them a 12-7 advantage before Saint Peter's fought back to force an 18-18 tie.  With the score knotted at 21-21, the Peahens rattled off the next three points to earn three match points at 24-21.  The Lady Jaspers fought all three of them off on a kill by Sherryta Stokes (Beltsville, Md.) and back-to-back service aces by Alyssa Getzel (Richmond, Va.).  Saint Peter's earned another match point after a hitting error by Andrea Reiff (Hawthorne, N.Y.), but another Stokes kill brought the Lady Jaspers even again at 25-25.  Manhattan finally earned its first set point on a hitting error by the Peahens' Kate McFadden, then evened the match at 2-2 when McFadden committed another error, giving the Lady Jaspers a 27-25 set win.

The Lady Jaspers scored the first two points of the decisive fifth set before Saint Peter's rallied right back to tie it at 3-3.  Manhattan took the next two points to go back in front, but the Peahens refused to go quietly and charged back to force a 7-7 tie.  After Saint Peter's took a 9-8 lead, Manhattan went on a 3-0 run to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish.  The Peahens got within one at 11-10 and 12-11, but the Lady Jaspers rallied for the final three points of the match and closed out the victory on a kill by Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.).  The 15-11 fifth set win capped the Lady Jaspers' second straight conference win and marked the first time all season Manhattan won a match after trailing 2-1.

For the second straight match, Reiff and Stokes each posted a double-double for the Lady Jaspers.  Reiff tallied 16 kills and 16 digs, while Stokes added 14 kills and 15 digs.  Welsh added 12 kills.  Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) tied a career-high with 23 digs for the Lady Jaspers, who out-dug the Peahens 69-64.  Getzel dished out 35 assists and tallied three aces, and Bridget Call (Roberts, Wisc.) notched a career-high 14 assists.  Manhattan hit .241 (67-25-174) as a team.

Stephanie Phillips recorded a match-high 18 kills and hit .356 for Saint Peter's.  Kim Mendoza tallied a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs, and McFadden posted 12 kills and 11 digs.  Katherine Sura registered 18 digs for the Peahens.  Caroline Garvey dished out 51 assists.  Monique Garvey had six aces and Yomi Angulo served four, as the Peahens tallied 14 aces to Manhattan's five.  Garvey, the MAAC leader in the category, was held to one ace.  As a team, the Peahens hit .267 (62-18-165) for the match.