Box Score
FAIRFIELD, Conn. ? After winning five straight matches to get into a position where it could possibly play itself into the MAAC Tournament on Sunday, the Manhattan College volleyball team (11-17, 10-8 MAAC) came up one win shy of its goal, dropping a 25-20, 25-20, 26-24 decision to MAAC regular season champion Fairfield (19-12, 16-2 MAAC) at Alumni Hall. Even a win wouldn't have put the Lady Jaspers into the MAAC Tournament however, as Iona (19-11, 11-7 MAAC) came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Marist (14-17, 9-9 MAAC) in five sets and claim the final spot in the four-team field.
Fairfield opened up a 3-1 lead to start the match before the Lady Jaspers went on a 9-3 run to open up a 10-6 advantage. The Stags came back to tie it at 11-11 before Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) slammed a kill to put Manhattan back in front, 12-11. The Lady Jaspers took a 14-12 lead on a kill by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) before Fairfield rallied for three straight points to take the lead. With the score knotted at 16-16, the Stags went on a 3-0 run to take the lead for good. Fairfield went on to win the first set by a 25-20 margin.
Manhattan scored the first three points of the second set and led 6-3 before a six-point Fairfield rally, marked by three Haililani Pokipala service aces, gave the Stags a 9-6 advantage. The Lady Jaspers came back to force a 10-10 tie, but the Stags responded with a 4-0 spurt to take a 14-10 lead. Manhattan cut the lead to two after a block by Welsh and Andrea Reiff (Hawthorne, N.Y.) made it 14-12, but that's as close as the Lady Jaspers would get for the remainder of the set. The Stags opened up a 23-17 advantage before Manhattan scored the next three points to get within three, but Fairfield followed with the next two points to close out a 25-20 second set win.
It looked like Fairfield might cruise to an easy three-set victory after the Stags scored the first three points of the third set and eventually ran that advantage to 15-7. However, with the season at stake, Manhattan refused to go quietly into the night. Trailing 18-10, the Lady Jaspers went on a 7-3 run to cut the Stags' lead to 21-17, prompting a Fairfield timeout. The Stags won the next point, but Manhattan won the next six on Reiff's serve to pull in front, 23-21. After a kill by Alex Lopez made it 23-22, the Lady Jaspers got to set point on a kill by Sherryta Stokes (Beltsville, Md.). Fairfield fought off Manhattan's first two set point opportunities, then reached match point on a kill by Lauren Hughes. One match point was all the Stags needed, as Katie Mann pounded a kill on the next point to give Fairfield a 26-24 win that closed out the match.
Stokes tallied a double-double with 17 kills and 11 digs in her final collegiate match. Reiff had eight kills, five digs and two aces in her final match as a Lady Jasper, while fellow senior Alyssa Getzel (Richmond, Va.) had five kills on .500 hitting and 28 assists. Welsh posted six kills and five blocks for Manhattan, and Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) registered a match-high 14 digs. As a team, the Lady Jaspers hit .176 (42-21-119) for the match.
Kendal Dirkin had 12 kills and didn't commit an error in 16 attempts for the Stags, hitting an outstanding .750. Dirkin also recorded four blocks. Lopez added nine kills and seven digs for Fairfield, while Mann notched eight kills. Lauren Balmert posted a double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs. Brandi Higa also registered 10 digs, as the Stags out-dug the Lady Jaspers 45-39. Fairfield hit .269 (43-15-104) as a team in the match.
After starting the season 0-8, Manhattan finished the year by winning six of its last nine, including a five-match winning streak that was snapped on Sunday. The Lady Jaspers nearly doubled their six wins in the 2007 campaign and won twice as many conference matches as they did last season, a school-record 10 MAAC wins. Manhattan, which was picked seventh in the MAAC preseason poll, finished fifth in the MAAC with a 10-8 conference record, its best finish since capturing fourth place in 2006.