Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - After three hard-fought Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) losses in a row, the Manhattan College volleyball team stepped out of the conference on Wednesday night looking to change its luck. Unfortunately, Lafayette needed a victory, as well, and the Leopards (8-5) knocked off the Lady Jaspers (5-10) 25-21, 31-33, 25-17, 25-17 at the Kirby Sports Center. The loss was Manhattan's fourth straight and the sixth in the team's last seven matches.
Manhattan opened the match by scoring three of the first four points before Lafayette rallied to take a 7-6 lead. The Lady Jaspers responded, taking a 10-8 advantage on a kill by Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.), but a 3-0 Lafayette run put the Leopards back in front. Lafayette extended its lead to 20-15, but Manhattan again responded, and the Lady Jaspers cut their deficit to one when Diane Strutner's (San Jose, Calif.) service ace made it 22-21. However, that's as close as Manhattan would get, as Lafayette scored the final three points of the set to close out a 25-21 win.
The Lady Jaspers called a quick timeout after the Leopards jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Manhattan won the next point following the timeout, and rallied to take an 8-7 advantage on an Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) ace. After an ace by Kelsey Huntoon (Monroe, Mich.) put the Lady Jaspers up 15-11, Lafayette tallied six of the next seven points to take a 17-16 lead. Manhattan responded with a 6-2 run and looked poised to clinch the set with a 24-21 lead. However, closing out the set wouldn't be easy.
Lafayette fought back to force a 24-24 tie before giving the Lady Jaspers another set point with a service error. The Leopards claimed the next point and fought off four more set points before finally earning one of their own at 31-30. This time it was Manhattan's turn to fend off set point, which the Lady Jaspers did on a kill by Strutner. After another Strutner kill set up Manhattan's 10th set point, the Lady Jaspers finally sealed a 33-31 win to level the match at one set apiece.
In the third set, the Leopards broke open an early 3-3 tie with a 6-1 run that put them up 9-4. Manhattan pulled within two when a kill by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) trimmed Lafayette's lead to 17-15, but the Leopards closed the set on an 8-2 run and took a 2-1 lead in the match with the 25-17 third-set victory. Lafayette hit .310 (10 kills, one error, 29 attempts) in the third set.
Manhattan jumped out to the early 3-1 advantage in the fourth set, but Lafayette responded with four straight points to go ahead 5-3. After the Lady Jaspers fought back within 10-9, the Leopards used a 6-2 run to push their advantage back to five points, 16-11. Lafayette was in control of the set from their, and the Leopards closed out a 3-1 victory by taking the fourth set, 25-17.
Strutner recorded 15 kills and 25 digs to lead the Lady Jaspers. Rahey tallied 12 kills, while Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) added nine kills and five blocks. Laura Bellotti (Dix Hills, N.Y.), who played one season at Lafayette before transferring, posted 36 assists and digs and two kills on .400 hitting in her first match against her former team. After collectively notching just one ace against Canisius on Sunday, the Lady Jaspers served seven aces on Wednesday. Manhattan hit .134 (47-26-157) as a team.
Cara Mulholland paced the Leopards with 15 kills and 19 digs, while Kayly Elmer also tallied a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. Alana Taylor notched 13 kills and Katrina Racibarskas added 10 kills for Lafayette. Ashton Rossi distributed 47 assists to go along with four kills on .429 hitting. Kari Horn finished with 14 digs and Christy Mebust had 10 digs, as the Leopards outdug the Lady Jaspers 67-59. As a team, Lafayette hit .242 (61-22-161) in the match.
The Lady Jaspers (1-3 MAAC) jump back into MAAC action on Friday night, when they visit Fairfield (5-10, 3-1 MAAC) at 7 p.m. Manhattan hosts Loyola (8-11, 3-1 MAAC) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, and all fans are encouraged to come to the match wearing pink shirts and jeans as a part of National Denim Day for breast cancer awareness.
To follow Manhattan Athletics on Twitter, go to twitter.com/gojaspers and on Facebook search "Manhattan Jaspers."
