Mount St. Mary Box Score

Manhattanville Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 4, 2008) –- After playing ten straight matches on the road, the Vassar women's volleyball team welcomed a return to Keynon Hall on Saturday, winning two matches in a tri-match with Mount St. Mary and Manhattanville. The Brewers sweep both opponents, defeating Mount St. Mary 25-14, 25-14, 25-22 in the first match and Manhattanville 25-12, 25-8 and 25-13. The two wins push the Brewers to 8-11 overall and 4-1 at home. Vassar will remain at Keynon this coming Wednesday, October 8, against Stevens Institute of Technology at 7:00 pm.

Vassar 3, Mount St. Mary 0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-22)
The Brewers opened play with a convincing three set sweep of the Blue Knights. The Brewers looked strong in the first two sets before playing a tight last set. The final set was tied at 7-7 when the Brewers went up 16-11 following three straight service aces from junior Tess Johnson (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) as well as kills from junior Sarah Potts (Bellevue, WA/Newport), freshman Amy Bavosa (Eastport, NY/Eastport Southmanor) and sophomore Julianna Simon (Sandy, UT/Waterford School).

The Blue Knights were able to keep it close with four kills from junior Melissa Ribeiro (Yonkers, NY/Maria Regna) that made the game 23-21. A kill by Potts and a block from Bavosa accounted for the final two points. The first two games went easily as Vassar built up 9-2 and 8-2 leads respectively and were able to mix opportune offense and strong defense to win both games in similar fashion. In the second set, Potts served won points on her serve five consecutive times.

The Brewers were led by Bavosa's 14 kills and only one attack error. Johnson had seven kills and senior Katie Newton (Carpinteria, CA/Santa Barbara) had six kills. Freshman Mary-Chris Arena (Fairport, NY/Fairport) led the Brewers in digs with 17. Johnson chipped in with seven. Senior Mailynh Phan (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) had 15 assists.

For Mount St. Mary, Ribero led the way with five kills. Senior Amanda Perry (Norwich, NY/Norwich) had 15 digs and junior Katie Toole (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) had 10 assists.

Vassar 3, Manhattanville 0 (25-12, 25-8, 25-13)
Vassar gained its second win of the day in the final match with a three-set sweep of Manhattanville College, 25-12, 25-8, 25-13.

The Brewers were in control throughout the entire match and played with incredible energy. Bavosa put on an impressive display of hitting with nine stellar kills and a number of thunderous blocks. Johnson added seven kills and four digs in the match, while Simon added five kills and three powerful blocks.

In the third and final game of the match, the Valiants were able to grab a 10-9 lead behind kills from freshman hitter Makana Gomes (Honolulu, Hawaii/ 'Iolani), who had seven kills and 13 digs in the match. But the Brewers took over the game from that point, as sophomore setter Chelsea Mottern (Bound Brook, NJ/ Rutgers Prep) served twelve straight points following a Bavosa kill, three of which were service aces. The run put the Brewers up 23-10. A Simon block and Manhattanville error earned the Brewers the win.

Vassar showed off its serving skills in the first game of the match, jumping out to a 10-4 lead behind two service aces each from Johnson and Phan, as well as one from Arena. A couple of Bavosa kills gave the Brewers a comfortable 15-9 lead and junior Jasmin Iskander (San Dimas, CA/Vivian Webb) served seven straight points to extend Vassar's lead to 24-11.

Vassar's dominance showed best in the second game of the match, as the Brewers allowed just eight points. The Brewers jumped out early, nabbing a 14-5 lead with kills from Newton, Johnson, and Simon. With her team up 14-6, Sophomore Yevgeniya Sergeyenko (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Technical) served seven straight points for the Brewers, four of which were service aces.

Vassar closed out the game two kills from Johnson and one from Iskander. Bavosa led the Brewers in kills with nine, while Johnson and Simon had seven and five, respectively. Phan had 11 assists in the match and added five digs. For Manhattanville, Gomes' seven kills were a team-high. Freshman Xiu Carrasquillo (Newburgh,NY/Valley Central) led the Valiants with ten assists and freshman Ally Johnson (Branford, CT, Branford) had 15 digs. The loss dropped the Valiants to 4-12 on the season.

Manhattanville 3, Mount St. Mary 0 (15-25, 25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 15-13)
After being down three games to one, it looked as if the Blue Knights were going to come back for the win as they grabbed an early 8-4 lead in the final game. But the Valiants scored seven straight points behind the strategic serving of freshman Damaris Morales (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic/Colegio San Jose), including three service aces.

Down 14-9, Mount Saint Mary again tried to stage a comeback, taking advantage of two Manhattanville errors and back-to-back service aces from freshman libeiro Heather Schaeffer (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay).

But a strong kill from junior Christa Nessel (Wilton,CT/Wilton) allowed the Valiants to escape with the win. Mary drops to 5-13 on the season.

In victory, the Valiants had one player reach double figures in kills, Gomes with 11. She had only six attack errors in 36 attempts. Nessel had eight kills and Black added seven. The architect of the offensive for Manhattanville was Carrasquillo who had 23 assists. Defensively, the Valiants were strong, getting double figures in digs from five different players, led by 21 from Nessel and 18 from Black.

For Mount St. Mary, Courtney Kenney led all players with 18 kills on 51 attempts with only six attack errors. Teresa Sorrentino had 10 kills. Katie Toole had 27 assists to take match honors. Heather Schaeffer had a match high 27 digs.