Box Score
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BALTIMORE - The Manhattan College volleyball team made history at Reitz Arena on Sunday afternoon. With a 3-2 triumph over Loyola, the Lady Jaspers picked up their 11th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) win of the season, breaking the previous school record of 10 set in 2008. Manhattan (18-13, 11-7 MAAC) also clinched the No. 4 seed in next weekend's MAAC Tournament with the 25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 18-25, 15-13 victory over the Greyhounds (14-18, 8-10 MAAC).
Manhattan never trailed in the first set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and never looking back. The Lady Jaspers extended their advantage to 13-4 before a 10-4 Loyola run got the Greyhounds back within three, 17-14. Manhattan scored five of the next seven points and pushed its lead back to six when a Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) kill made it 22-16. Manhattan held on to win the first set by a 25-20 count.
The Lady Jaspers built another early lead in the second set, going up 5-2. After Loyola rallied to tie the score at 6-6, three straight Manhattan points gave the lead back to the Lady Jaspers, 9-6. However, Loyola again responded, as the Greyhounds used an 8-0 run to turn a 13-9 deficit into a 17-13 edge. Manhattan battled back, though, and knotted the set at 22-22 on a kill by LaKell Havens (St. George, Utah). Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) slammed a kill to give the Lady Jaspers a 23-22 lead, but Loyola took the next point to again even the score. Another kill by Rahey gave Manhattan a set point, and Jamie Collareta (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) finished off the set, 25-23, when she saw a hole in the Loyola defense and dumped the ball to the 10-foot line for a kill.
It looked like it might be an easy 3-0 Manhattan victory when the Lady Jaspers opened up a 7-2 lead early in the third set, but the Greyhounds won the next nine points to go ahead 11-7. Loyola extended its lead to 16-9 before a 4-1 Manhattan spurt brought the Lady Jaspers back within four at 17-13. However, Loyola won six of the next eight points to bring its lead back to eight, 23-15, and the Greyhounds took the set by a 25-18 margin.
In the fourth set, it was Loyola that took the early lead, 6-1, before a 6-0 Manhattan rally put the Lady Jaspers in front 7-6. After back-to-back Strutner kills broke an 8-8 tie, Loyola used a 5-0 run to open up a 13-10 advantage. Manhattan got back within 14-13, but the Greyhounds responded with an 8-3 spurt to extend their lead to six, 22-16. Loyola hit .314 (14 kills, three errors, 35 attempts) in the set, and pushed the match into a decisive frame with a 25-18 victory.
Loyola carried its momentum into the fifth set, scoring the first two points, before Manhattan rallied to tie it at 3-3. After the Greyhounds jumped out to a 6-4 edge, a 6-0 Manhattan run put the Lady Jaspers in front 10-6. Loyola won the next three points to get back within one, 10-9, but the Lady Jaspers reached match point when a kill by Alexa Lampasona (Remensburg, N.Y.) made it 14-10. Loyola fought off three match points before Rahey ended it. Loyola won more total points, 106-101, but Manhattan took the fifth set, 15-13, to claim the victory.
The Lady Jaspers, who picked up their sixth consecutive MAAC victory, won for the fourth straight time when extended to five sets and improved their 2010 five-set record to 5-2. It was also the fourth consecutive time that Manhattan and Loyola needed five sets to decide things.
Strutner and Rahey led the Lady Jaspers with 16 kills each. Havens added 13 kills and two service aces, while Lampasona tallied nine kills. Collareta handed out 49 assists and registered 11 digs to complete a double-double. Julie Bies (Massapequa, N.Y.) had a match-high 28 digs and Kelsey Huntoon (Monroe, Mich.) recorded 10 digs in the victory. As a team, Manhattan hit .180 (62-29-183) in the match.
Three Greyhounds posted double-doubles, led by Katie Dircks's 15-kill, 21-dig effort. Dircks also had three aces. Nina Camaioni recorded 15 kills and 14 digs, while Nicole Sarby notched 12 kills and 13 digs. Brittany Born tallied 18 digs, and Aubrey Kirven distributed 45 assists to go along with seven kills and three aces. Taylor Koncelik registered six blocks and Jac Bullock added five blocks, as the Greyhounds outblocked the Lady Jaspers 11-4. Overall, Loyola hit .214 (57-20-173) as a team.
Manhattan enters the MAAC Tournament on a seven-match winning streak, the team's longest since a 15-match run from Oct. 1-Nov. 8, 2003, which was the last time the Lady Jaspers won the MAAC Championship. Manhattan finished the regular season tied with Canisius (15-15, 11-7 MAAC) for third place, but the Griffs own the tiebreaker by virtue of their two regular season victories over the Lady Jaspers.
The Lady Jaspers take on fifth-seeded Fairfield (11-19, 10-8 MAAC) in the MAAC Quarterfinals at 2 p.m. on Thursday from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Manhattan and Fairfield split the regular season series, with each side winning at home. The Lady Jaspers' 3-0 victory at Draddy Gymnasium on Nov. 6 snapped an 11-match losing streak against the Stags.
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