Click here to purchase the 2010 Manhattan Volleyball Yearbook
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Manhattan College volleyball team headed to Florida for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships riding a seven-match winning streak. Included in that string was a 3-0 rout of Fairfield at Draddy Gymnasium on Nov. 6 that was the Lady Jaspers' first win over the Stags in 11 tries. Unfortunately for the Lady Jaspers, they ran into the Stags again on Thursday in the MAAC Quarterfinals, and this time No. 5 Fairfield (12-19) got its revenge, knocking off fourth-seeded Manhattan (18-14) 25-22, 28-26, 13-25, 25-23 at the HP Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
After eight early ties, the Stags took the first significant lead of the match when they used a 3-1 run to turn an 8-8 deadlock into a 12-9 advantage. Fairfield extended its lead to 16-11, prompting a Manhattan timeout, but the Lady Jaspers immediately charged back, going on a 5-1 run highlighted by back-to-back service aces from LaKell Havens (St. George, Utah) to get back within one at 17-16. The Lady Jaspers eventually evened the score at 18-18 before a 5-1 Fairfield spurt put the Stags back in front by four, 23-19. Manhattan won the next two points to pull within 23-21, but Fairfield held on to win the set by a 25-21 count. The Stags hit an impressive .370 (15 kills, five errors, 27 attempts) in the first set.
The second set featured 18 ties and five lead changes. After Fairfield built an 11-9 lead, the Lady Jaspers rallied for three straight points to take a 12-11 advantage. The Stags fought back and went ahead 16-15 before a 6-1 Manhattan run, capped by a block from Havens and Alexa Lampasona (Remensburg, N.Y.) put the Lady Jaspers in front 21-17. Fairfield tied the score at 23-23, but Manhattan reached set point first when a kill by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) made it 24-23. The Stags evened it at 24-24 before a Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) kill gave the Lady Jaspers another set point. Fairfield again knotted things up before getting their first set point at 26-25. Manhattan tied it on a Kara Reis service error, but Fairfield won the next point, then closed out the set, 28-26, to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
With their season on the line, the Lady Jaspers came out on fire in the third set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. However, Fairfield scored four of the next five points to cut Manhattan's lead to one, 7-6. The Lady Jaspers never allowed the Stags to tie it, though, extending their advantage to 12-9 before ending the set on a 13-4 run to close out an easy 25-13 win. Manhattan made just one hitting error in the entire set, hitting a whopping .444 (13 kills, 27 attempts). The Stags, meanwhile, hit just .032 (8-7-31) in the third set.
Manhattan took an early 3-1 lead in the third set, but the Stags immediately countered with a 5-1 rally to take a 6-4 advantage of their own. After the Lady Jaspers tied it at 6-6, Fairfield went on a 10-4 run to open up a 16-10 cushion. A Reis ace put Fairfield up 20-16, then the Manhattan comeback started. The Lady Jaspers gradually chipped away at the lead before a Rahey kill forced the first tie since it was 6-6, a 23-23 deadlock. However, the Stags got a kill from Brianna Dixion to reach match point, then closed it out, 25-23, on a kill by Haililani Pokipala.
Strutner led the Lady Jaspers with a match-high 19 kills and 10 digs, while Rahey added 15 kills on .462 hitting. Havens notched her first career double-double with 10 kills and a career-high 10 blocks. She also had four aces. Lampasona tallied seven kills and six blocks, as the Lady Jaspers outblocked the Stags 12-9. Jamie Collareta (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) handed out 44 assists and Julie Bies (Massapequa, N.Y.) registered a team-high 11 digs to move into second place on Manhattan's all-time single-season list. As a team, the Lady Jaspers hit .239 (55-23-134) in the match.
Pokipala notched 15 kills and added six digs for Fairfield. Dixion ended up with 12 kills, and Lauren Hughes tallied 10 kills and seven digs. Bethany Steiger recorded eight kills on .429 hitting and added five blocks. Rachel Romansky finished just shy of a double-double, posting 42 assists and eight digs. Reis tallied a match-high 13 digs, as the Stags outdug the Lady Jaspers 50-45. Fairfield hit .229 (54-24-131) as a team.
Manhattan is no longer eligible to win the MAAC title and now moves into Friday's consolation round. The Lady Jaspers take on either No. 9 Saint Peter's (6-23) or the loser of the quarterfinal between No. 2 Iona (18-10) and No. 10 Rider (4-25) at 2 p.m. on Friday. Saint Peter's faces the Iona-Rider loser at 11 a.m., and the winner of that match plays Manhattan.
To follow Manhattan Athletics on Twitter, go to twitter.com/GoJaspers or visit Manhattan's Facebook fan page.