FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Following a career-high in blocks last weekend, graduate middle blocker Cristina Montanez was impressive once again as she hit a combined 69.2 percent with 10 kills to lead the Sacred Heart women's volleyball team to a sweep of the visiting Manhattan Jaspers on Friday night.
The 69.2 percent average for Montanez is the second time she has hit that mark in league play, the first coming at the beginning of the month at Rider where she finished with nine kills and no errors in 13 attempts. Joining her as one of three players to drop in double digit kills was junior outside Lauren Hubert with a match-high 12 and freshman outside Ryleigh Short who finished with 11 total.
Records:
Sacred Heart: 6-14, 3-5 MAAC
Manhattan: 2-15, 0-8 MAAC
Top Performers:
Lauren Hubert: 12 kills, .364 attack percentage, 9 digs
Ryleigh Short: 11 kills, 8 digs
Cristina Montanez: 10 kills, .692 attack percentage, 2 blocks
Miliani Villarreal: 9 assists, 12 digs
Brielle Laferriere: 22 assists
How it Happened:
After a back-and-forth start in the opening set, the Pioneers began to pull away after reaching double figures in the scoring column with a four-point rally that included kills from Emily Sawyer and Hubert. Two points later another kill from Hubert put the Pioneers up four, 16-12 and it was cruise control as the Jaspers never pulled within three from that point.
A trio of kills from Short, Abbie Hagedorn and Hubert provided the largest margin of the set at 24-16, however it was a miscue by the Jaspers that put the early match lead in favor of Sacred Hear with a 25-18 opening set victory.
In the second set, the Jaspers took the early lead and forced Sacred Heart to knot the score at five before taking a 10-7 lead. That lead would dissipate and flip back in favor of Manhattan on a string of six-straight points with the Jaspers taking a 14-10 lead.
Manhattan would maintain that lead until late in the set after the Pioneers slowly chipped away at the Jaspers advantage, eventually knotting the score at 23 thanks to three-straight hammers, two from Sawyer and a third from Short. The Jaspers would go on to force a win-by two scenario, however Sacred Heart maintained its momentum with a kill from Short providing set point to which a Manhattan error closed out the set with a 26-24 final.
Early in the third set, the Pioneers took a 9-4 advantage thanks to a stretch where they scored seven of eight points. The Jaspers wouldn't go down without a fight, battling back to knot the score at 13 and 14 before the Pioneers opened up an 18-14 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Manhattan looked to make it interesting down the stretch, pulling within a single point at 20-19, however a service error would give Sacred Heart the point back and back-to-back kills from Hubert gave the Pioneers four match points to work with. After surrendering one more point, the Jaspers fell victim of a service error that put the final set in the books at 25-21.
Next Up:
Sacred Heart will return to the William H. Pitt Center on Saturday, October 17 to close out a four-match homestand with the visiting Iona Gaels. First serve in the MAAC contest is set for 6:00 p.m. and as always admission is complimentary.
