Box Score
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. ? Sunday's match wasn't a must-win, but it was an important one for the Manhattan College volleyball team nonetheless. Unfortunately, the Lady Jaspers (3-11, 3-3 MAAC) missed out on an opportunity to move into sole possession of fourth place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, dropping a 25-9, 25-21, 25-21 decision to archrival Iona (11-6, 4-2 MAAC) at the Hynes Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon. With the win, Iona took over fourth place in the MAAC standings.
Iona seized control of the first set early on. With the score knotted at 3-3, the Gaels went on a 4-0 run to build a 7-3 advantage. Manhattan got within 7-5, but an 8-2 Iona run gave the Gaels a 15-7 lead. The Lady Jaspers scored the next two points to make it 15-9, but Iona ended the set on a 10-0 run. Manhattan hit -.122 (eight kills, 13 errors, 41 attacks) in the set, an easy 25-9 Iona win. Iona, meanwhile, made just one hitting error in the set.
Manhattan's hitting improved in the second set, and the Lady Jaspers took the lead for the first time in the match when a Sherryta Stokes (Beltsville, Md.) kill made it 3-2. Manhattan extended its lead to 7-4 before Iona came back to force a 7-7 tie. The play became tight from there, as there were nine ties in the set. Manhattan finally built a two-point lead at 14-12, but Iona responded with four straight points to take a 16-14 lead. Iona never trailed again the rest of the set, and extended its cushion to 24-19 thanks to a four-point run on Alyssa Erickson's serve. The Gaels needed three chances before closing out the set, 25-21, to take a 2-0 edge in the match.
It was a clear sign that this was Iona's day when the Gaels saved what looked like a certain kill, then won the long rally to take a 6-2 lead in the third set. Manhattan chipped away and eventually tied the score at 16-16, but the Lady Jaspers were unable to take the lead at any point. The score was tied again at 17-17, 18-18 and 19-19, but Iona scored the next point each time. The Gaels finally won consecutive points to take a 21-19 lead, and won six of the final eight points of the match to cap a 3-0 victory with a 25-21 third-set win.
Jackie Kapovich (Downers Grove, Ill.) led the Manhattan offense with a match-high 12 kills and hit .478, making only one error in 23 swings. Kapovich added seven digs. Stokes tallied seven kills and seven digs, while Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) also posted seven kills. Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) registered a team-high 15 digs, and Bridget Call (Roberts, Wisc.) recorded 16 assists and six digs. As a team, the Lady Jaspers hit .073 (33-24-124) in the match.
Rachel Whitten had a team-high 10 kills and hit .364 for Iona. She added nine digs and three blocks. Molly O'Shea registered nine kills and six digs, while Sarah Weiner posted six kills and five blocks. Colleen Genett had six kills and seven blocks for the Gaels, who out-blocked the Lady Jaspers 11-3. Sarah Neiters recorded a match-high 17 digs and Erickson finished with 27 assists and eight digs. The Gaels hit .263 (41-10-118) as a team.
The Lady Jaspers continue their five-match road trip with a visit to Fairleigh Dickinson (12-7) for a non-conference showdown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.