McGuinness Shines In Rout of Rider

Box Score

2012 Manhattan Volleyball Yearbook 

RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Everything went right for the Manhattan College volleyball team on Wednesday night.  Led by 15 kills from Malia McGuinness (Kailua, Hawaii), the Jaspers (8-8, 3-2 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) hit a season-high .386 (48 kills, nine errors, 101 attempts) as a team en route to a 25-18, 25-12, 25-15 triumph over Rider (6-7, 0-4 MAAC) at Draddy Gymnasium.  With the victory, its fourth straight, Manhattan got back to .500 for the first time this season.

Rider held an early 4-3 lead in the first set before Mariana Furquim (Curitiba, Brazil) slammed a kill ignite a 4-0 Manhattan run that gave the Jaspers a 7-4 advantage.  With Manhattan in front 14-11, another Furquim kill started a 6-2 rallly that extended the Jaspers' cushion to seven points, 20-13.  Rider scored the next two points to get within five, but would get no closer, and McGuinness pounded her eighth kill of the frame to finish off a 25-18 Manhattan win.  The Jaspers hit a stellar .405 (18-3-37) as a unit in the opening set.

It was more of the same in set two, as Manhattan used a 6-0 rally to turn a 2-2 deadlock into an 8-2 advantage.  The Broncs won four of the next five points to pull within 9-6 before a kill by Juliana Behrens (Honolulu, Hawaii) sparked a 10-2 Jaspers run, and Manhattan went in front 19-8 on a Jamie Collareta (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) service ace.  The Jaspers won the set by a 25-12 margin to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

The third set started off tight, as there were nine ties and seven lead changes in the early going.  After a kill by Alexa Lampasona (Remsenburg, N.Y.), Manhattan took the lead for good on a Sydney Volovski (Oswego, Ill.) kill that made the score 11-10.  The Jaspers eventually extended the rally to eight straight points, which gave them a 17-10 advantage.  With Manhattan leading 20-14, Ellie Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) took over.  She slammed kills on four consecutive points to bring the Jaspers to the brink of victory, and Manhattan closed out the win by taking the third set, 25-15.  As a team, the Jaspers committed just two errors and hit a solid .452 (16 kills, 31 attempts) in the frame.

"Tonight we worked really hard together, and everybody did a good job," Head Coach Mark Jones said.  "We have a lot of players, and every night we have somebody who's going to lead us.  It could be any of the five who are on the floor."

McGuinness hit .379 in the match and added 12 digs to complete a double-double.  Volovski, who was named MAAC Rookie of the Week on Monday, hit .500 in the match, slamming 11 kills without an error, while also tallying three blocks.  Wiekamp also had an errorless match.  She hit .714 in two sets off the bench, pounding five kills on just seven attempts.  Lampasona posted five blocks to go along with five kills, and Collareta handed out 37 assists.  Kelsey Huntoon (Monroe, Mich.) registered a match-high 16 digs, as the Jaspers outdug the Broncs 52-35.  Manhattan also had a 7-3 advantage in blocks.

Kayla Wong led Rider with six kills.  Ashlee Amatulli distributed a team-high 17 assists, while Brittany Gajewski paced the Broncs with 12 digs.  As a team, Rider hit .077 (27-19-104) in the match.