Riverdale, N.Y. ? The Lady Jaspers were ousted by Iona College at Draddy Gym, 3-2. Sophomore Rita Welsh tallied a game high 20 kills, hitting .391 on the day and also contributing 10 blocks.
Manhattan was looking for revenge on Iona, after losing a five game match last weekend. The Lady J's came out strong in the first game as they jumped to an early lead 7-3. Manhattan, led by Rita Welsh's five kills in the game, would not lose their lead as they would go on to win the first game, 30-19 and the match 1-0. In the second game, the Lady Jaspers found themselves trailing 17-12 midway through the game. But, the girls fought back and cut that deficit to two points as they were only down 20-18. Iona would not let the Manhattan get any closer as they pulled away to win the second game, 30-21 and tie the match up at 1-1.
The third game was a hard fought battle as the score saw 11 ties and nine lead changes. Manhattan jumped out to an early 13-9 lead, but the Gaels fought back and soon the game was tied at 22. The Lady J's battled hard as they took the third game, 30-26 and now led the match, 2-1. On the brink of a victory, Manhattan came out strong as they took the lead 13-9 again. But Iona was not going to go quietly as they fought back to tie the game at 14. The game went back and forth but in the end, Iona edged out a win, 30-26 which forced the match into a fifth and deciding game.
In the fifth game, both teams left it all out on the floor. The largest lead any team had was only two points during the entire game. Iona was up 7-5 but Manhattan scored the next two points to tie the game up. The Lady Jaspers then battled back to build up an 11-9 lead, but Iona fought back and soon the game was tied up at 13. With each team needing only two points to win, everybody in the Draddy Gym was on the edge of their seats. In the end, Iona scored the last two points of the game, to squeeze out a victory in the game, 15-13, and match, 3-2.
Sophomore Rita Welsh, led all players with 20 kills in the game, 10 blocks and .391 hitting percentage. Junior Alyssa Getzel had a game high 54 assists to pace the Manhattan offense. Junior Jackie Kapovich contributed 15 kills, two service aces and five blocks for Manhattan, respectively.
The Lady Jaspers will take on Siena College, tomorrow in the Draddy at 2:00 p.m.
