Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. ? The Manhattan College volleyball team had the unfortunate draw of four-time defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champion Fairfield in its first conference match of the season. The Stags (4-9, 2-0 MAAC) showed why they're the preseason No. 2 pick on Saturday afternoon, posting a 25-19, 25-18, 25-16 victory over the Lady Jaspers (0-8, 0-1 MAAC) at Draddy Gymnasium.
Fairfield took control of the first set immediately, scoring the first three points of the match, then running its lead to 7-2. Manhattan pulled within 9-6 before a 5-1 Fairfield run brought the Stags' lead back to seven at 14-7. Fairfield was never challenged the rest of the set and secured a comfortable 25-19 win.
The Stags built a 3-1 led in the second set before Manhattan came back to tie it at 4-4 on a service ace by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.), but Fairfield quickly responded and regained a five-point advantage at 15-10. Manhattan used a three-point rally to get back within 17-15 before the Stags countered with three points of their own to regain a five-point edge, 20-15. Fairfield scored four of the last five points to close out the second set, 25-18, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Jaspers came out well in the third set, as the teams traded points early on. After Manhattan took a 5-4 lead on an ace by Andrea Reiff (Hawthorne, N.Y.), Fairfield went on a 9-4 run to go up 13-9 and force Manhattan head coach Jolie Ward to take a timeout. The Stags continued their rally out of the timeout, running the lead to 18-11. Manhattan tried to chip away, but simply ran out of time, as the Stags finished off a 25-16 win that capped the match. Fairfield made just one hitting error in the third set, hitting .433 (14 kills, 30 attempts).
Sherryta Stokes (Beltsville, Md.) led the Lady Jaspers with 10 kills. Reiff tallied seven kills and added 15 digs, and Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) posted a match-high 18 digs. Alyssa Getzel (Richmond, Va.) distributed 20 assists and Bridget Call (Roberts, Wisc.) added seven assists in just one set played. Manhattan hit .118 (30-18-102) as a team in the match.
Lauren Hughes tallied a match-high 11 kills for Fairfield. Katie Mann, a preseason First Team All-MAAC selection, hit .875 in the match, slamming seven kills in eight errorless swings. She added six digs and six blocks. Karlie Urbaniak led the Stags with 10 digs and also collected five blocks. Lauren Balmert dished out 29 assists for Fairfield. As a team, the Stags hit .273 (39-12-99) for the match.
Due to technical difficulties, the live webcast of the match was unavailable. For those who want to watch the webcast, it will be made available on-demand for free at www.GoJaspers.com starting Saturday evening. The scheduled live webcast of Sunday's match should be available for a small fee.
The Lady Jaspers host Loyola (3-9, 0-1 MAAC), a team they beat in five sets at Draddy Gymnasium last season, at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Greyhounds dropped their MAAC opener on Saturday, 3-0 to Iona.
