2012 Manhattan Volleyball Yearbook
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - On Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, the Manhattan College volleyball team needed five hard-fought sets to hold off Loyola. Four days later in the rematch, the Jaspers (11-10, 6-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) had a much easier time of it, notching a 25-17, 31-29, 25-20 victory over the Greyhounds (10-9, 3-5 MAAC) at Draddy Gymnasium.
"I think you have to erase what you did in the last match, keeping the positives of course, but also work on the things you didn't do well," Head Coach Mark Jones said about the back-to-back. "We tried to focus on that in practice and go into a game plan. That's exactly what we did. And we definitely passed a lot better today than we did last time."
The Jaspers took an early 6-4 lead in the first set, but Loyola responded with a 5-0 run to go up 9-6. Manhattan tied the score at 12-12 on a kill by Mariana Furquim (Curitiba, Brazil), which was part of an 11-2 rally that gave the Jaspers a 20-14 advantage. Alexa Lampasona (Remsenburg, N.Y.) pounded a kill to bring Manhattan to set point, and another Lampasona kill closed out a 25-17 set win. The Jaspers hit .333 (14 kills, three errors, 33 attempts) as a team in the opening set.
The back-and-forth second set featured 21 ties and 10 lead changes. Loyola jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Manhattan stormed back to tie it at 7-7. The Jaspers went in front 13-12 on a Sydney Volovski (Oswego, Ill.) kill, but the Greyhounds scored the next two points to regain the lead. After the Jaspers responded by taking an 18-16 advantage, Loyola claimed four of the next five points to go up one, 20-19.
Lampasona followed with a kill to tie it at 20-20, and the sides traded the next six points before Loyola earned the first set point at 24-23. Ellie Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) slammed a kill to keep the Jaspers alive, but Loyola reached set point again on a Manhattan service error. The Jaspers fought off two more set points on kills by Furquim and Lampasona, then got one of their own when the duo combined for a block to make the score 27-26. Loyola won the next three points to reach set point for the fourth time, and the Greyhounds had another at 29-28, but Manhattan battled back to tie it each time. The Jaspers finally closed out the set, 31-29, when Loyola's Faye Lukas committed consecutive hitting errors on the next two points.
In the third set, Manhattan built a 4-2 cushion before four straight Loyola points gave the Greyhounds a 6-4 lead. The Jaspers responded with a 5-2 spurt to go up 9-8, but a 5-1 Loyola run followed, giving the Greyhounds a 13-10 advantage. After Loyola increased the margin to 15-12, Manhattan used a 6-1 run to seize control. Juliana Behrens (Honolulu, Hawaii) slammed a kill to put the Jaspers in front 18-16, and Manhattan never trailed again. With the score 20-19, Lampasona slammed a kill, and Furquim followed with consecutive service aces to bring Manhattan within two points of victory. A kill by Lampasona finished off the 25-20 set win that sealed the victory.
Furquim hit .344 and led the Jaspers with 13 kills. She added 11 digs, two aces and three blocks. Wiekamp also had a double-double, posting 10 kills and 12 digs, while Lampasona pounded eight kills on .438 hitting to go along with three blocks. Jamie Collareta (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) distributed 33 assists for Manhattan. Kelsey Huntoon (Monroe, Mich.) tallied a team-high 16 digs and Julie Bies (Massapequa, N.Y.), who was honored prior to the match for recording her 1,500th career dig over the weekend, contributed four digs. As a team, Manhattan hit .225 (41-14-120) in the match.
After slamming 29 kills in Sunday's match, Lukas was held to 11 kills and nine digs on Wednesday. Jac Bullock led the Greyhounds with 16 kills, and she also hit .519. Mindy Maloney notched eight kills and four blocks, while Lauren Andersen handed out 40 assists. Katie Dircks recorded a match-high 17 digs to go along with seven kills and Janet Pressler added 16 digs, as the Greyhounds outdug the Jaspers 54-52. Loyola hit .157 (45-25-127) as a team.
Wednesday's match marked the final meeting between the Jaspers and Greyhounds as conference opponents. Loyola will become a member of the Patriot League next season.
With the win, Manhattan moved into a virtual tie with Siena (11-9, 5-3 MAAC) for fourth place in the conference standings. Up next for the Jaspers is a 2 p.m. matchup at Saint Peter's (1-21, 0-8 MAAC) on Saturday.