NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. - The Manhattan College volleyball team's schedule hasn't been very friendly of late. Not only are the Lady Jaspers in the midst of a five-match road trip, the first four matches of the swing came against teams with winning records in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play. That was the case again on Sunday afternoon, as the Lady Jaspers (6-15, 2-8 MAAC) dropped their fourth straight match on the trip, a 25-19, 25-15, 25-20 decision against second-place Niagara (16-6, 9-2 MAAC) at the Gallagher Center.
Niagara stormed out of the gate, scoring the first six points of the match. The Purple Eagles ran their lead to 12-2 before a 5-0 Manhattan rally brought the Lady Jaspers back within five, 12-7. Niagara responded with four straight points to run its lead back to nine at 16-7, but Manhattan again battle back and trimmed Niagara's lead to five when a service ace by Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) made it 17-12 in favor of the Purple Eagles. Manhattan continued to chip away, pulling within three at 20-17, but that's as close as the Lady Jaspers would get. Niagara ended the set on a 5-2 run to seal a 25-19 win.
After Manhattan took a 2-1 lead in the second set, Niagara scored five of the next six points to go in front 6-3. The Purple Eagles increased their advantage to 17-9 before the Lady Jaspers used a 4-1 run to pull within five, 18-13. However, Niagara responded with six straight points to earn its first set point opportunity. Manhattan fought off two set points before the Purple Eagles closed out the frame, 25-15, to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Purple Eagles raced out to another early lead in the third set, building a 3-1 advantage. After a kill by Maddie Heck (Corte Madera, Calif.) tied it at 10-10, Niagara scored the next seven points to open up a 17-10 lead. Manhattan rallied for the next two points, but the Purple Eagles followed that spurt with a 5-1 run of their own that increased Niagara's lead to 22-13. Manhattan scored seven of the final nine points, but the Purple Eagles had a large enough lead that they finished off the three-set sweep with a 25-20 victory in the third set.
Heck led Manhattan with a career-high 10 kills. Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) added eight kills and four blocks, while Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) had seven kills to go along with a team-high 16 digs. Julie Bies (Massapequa, N.Y.) notched 10 digs and Jamie Collareta (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) dished out a team-high 25 assists. As a team, Manhattan hit just .095 (30-19-116) in the match.
Hannah Hedrick tallied 17 kills on .357 hitting and completed a double-double with 11 digs. Kari Honomichl pounded 12 kills and hit .500, committing just one error in 24 attempts. Michelle James finished with 39 assists, 10 digs and four blocks. Sam Morgan corralled a team-high 19 digs, as the Purple Eagles outdug the Lady Jaspers 59-50. Niagara hit over .300 in each set and hit .324 (47-11-111) as a team for the match.
The Lady Jaspers conclude their five-match road trip with a 6:15 p.m. matchup at Rider (3-18, 1-9 MAAC) on Friday. Manhattan beat Rider in five sets on Sept. 19 to open the MAAC season. The Lady Jaspers finally return to Draddy Gymnasium on Saturday, when they host Saint Peter's (6-15, 3-7 MAAC) at 12 p.m.