La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College fended off five match points in the fourth set of Saturday afternoon's non-conference volleyball match against Manhattanville College and rallied to win the set before claiming a thrilling five-set victory in the Gambal Athletic Center. The Giants improve to 10-15 overall with the thrilling win while the Valiants slip to 12-9 on the year.
Manhattanville won the first set of Saturday's match 25-19 before Keystone leveled the contest with a 25-23 victory in the second game. The Valiants responded with a 25-17 decision in the third frame to take 2-1 lead before the Giants forced a decisive fifth set by overcoming deficits of 20-11 and 24-19 to rally for a 26-24 win in the fourth frame. The hosts carried the momentum into the fifth set and won 15-7 to secure the match and snap a three-game losing skid.
Malley Bowen (Owego, N.Y./Tioga Central) had a big all-around game for Keystone, totaling a triple-double while leading the Giants with 34 assists, 13 kills, and four aces while picking up 16 digs.
Nicole Frascati (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) added 12 kills while
Amanda Hardy (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) put down seven kills in the win.
Victoria Homfeld (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) paced the hosts with 27 digs,
Kristen Larkin (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) had 22 digs, and
Nicki Yeager (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) added 11 digs on the day.
Hardy and
Nathalie Ortiz (New Milford, N.J./New Milford) contributed three blocks apiece while Larkin added a trio of aces for Keystone, who hit .096 as a team in the victory.
Kerry Mackey had a match-high 18 kills for Manhattanville, who got 10 kills apiece from Laura LiVolsi and Meagan Dattoma while hitting .170 as a team.
Keisha Schutte dished out a match-high 44 assists while Monica Lopez led all players with 34 digs for the Valiants.
Keystone will host Elmira College on Tuesday night in a non-conference match starting at 7:00 p.m. The Giants will honor the team's lone senior,
Nicki Yeager (Medford, N.J./Shawnee), prior to the contest against the Soaring Eagles.
