Box Score
Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Manhattan College volleyball team got contributions across the board on Saturday afternoon. Five different Jaspers had at least four kills and the team matched a season-high with 11 service aces, as Manhattan (14-8, 8-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) notched a 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 victory over Saint Peter's (3-21, 1-9 MAAC) at Draddy Gymnasium.
“That's our team,” Head Coach Mark Jones said. “We spread the wealth around, and everyone did a great job. I think everybody was capable of getting double-digit kills today, but we have a lot of hitters. We just focus on what we do best and try to get everybody involved in the offense.”
Manhattan took control of the first set early, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Peacocks pulled within one at 7-6 before Juliana Behrens (Honolulu, Hawaii) smashed a kill to begin a 5-0 Jaspers rally that made the score 12-6. After Saint Peter's scored the next three points to cut its deficit to three, 12-9, Manhattan went on an 11-4 rally to open up a 23-13 advantage. Manhattan made just one attack error in the first set, hitting .304 (eight kills, 23 attempts) in the 25-14 win.
There were four early ties in the second set before Sarah Haselhorst (Naperville, Ill.) pounded a kill and followed with an ace to break a 5-5 deadlock. The Jaspers extended their lead to 13-8 on an ace by Malia McGuinness (Kailua, Hawaii), and Haselhorst later slammed back-to-back kills to increase the margin to 18-10. After Saint Peter's won the next two points, Manhattan went on a 6-1 spurt, reaching set point on a block by Katelyn Nugent (Auburn, Wash.) and Erin Weis (Omaha, Neb.). The Jaspers hit .333 (13-2-33) in the second set, posting a 25-17 triumph to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
In the third set, Saint Peter's came out strong. The Peacocks scored the first two points of the frame and led 5-4 before Manhattan responded with a 7-2 run to go ahead 11-7. However, Saint Peter's countered with a 7-1 rally of its own, pulling in front 14-12 on a block by the trio of Meredith Przybocki, Amanda Colombo and Lauren Behrens.
With Saint Peter's leading 16-15, the Jaspers rallied for four of the next five points to open up a 19-17 advantage. Saint Peter's tied it at 19-19, but McGuinness followed with a kill to regain the lead for Manhattan. The Peacocks once again tied the score at 20-20 before another McGuinness kill started a 4-0 run that brought the Jaspers to match point. Weis capped the 25-21 set win with her fourth kill of the match (to go along with four blocks), as Manhattan closed out the 3-0 triumph.
The victory was Manhattan's seventh straight against conference competition and kept the Jaspers in second place in the MAAC, one half-game behind first-place Siena. It also marked the first time since a 3-0 victory over Fairfield on Sept. 28 that the Jaspers played fewer than five sets, a span of five matches. In addition, Manhattan's 8-1 conference record is tied for the best in program history after nine matches. The Jaspers finished 8-1 in MAAC play in both 2002 and 2003 (and went on to win the conference championship each time), when the conference schedule consisted of just a nine-match single round robin.
McGuinness posted team-highs with nine kills and 10 digs, while also contributing three aces. Sydney Volovski (Oswego, Ill.) added seven kills and Haselhorst playing outside hitter for the first time since her freshman year, tallied five kills, five digs, a block and an ace. Teodora Peric (Chicago, Ill.) posted 24 assists, seven digs and three aces. Jade Gray (Boise, Idaho) also registered three aces. Allie Yamashiro (Kapolei, Hawaii), meanwhile, recorded nine digs. The Jaspers hit a combined .198 (30-10-101) as a team.
For Saint Peter's, Lauren Behrens led the way with 11 kills. Kristina Baehr handed out a team-best 18 assists to go along with two aces, while Kaitlyn Sitton finished with 10 assists and three blocks. Jenny Pliska registered a match-high 20 digs and Laura Reinhart added 11 digs, as the Peacocks outdug the Jaspers 53-39. As a team, Saint Peter's hit .085 (36-27-106) in the match.
Manhattan concludes its four-match homestand on Sunday, when Rider (10-8, 2-6 MAAC) visits Draddy Gymnasium at 1 p.m. The Broncs dropped a 3-1 decision at Iona on Saturday.
