PURCHASE, NY (September 18, 2018) – The King's College women's volleyball team twice fended off host Manhattanville College to pick up a huge MAC Freedom victory on Tuesday evening, outlasting the Valiants 3-2 in action from Kennedy Gym. King's won the match with back and forth scores of 25-18, 17-25, 25-18, 12-25 and 15-10.

Each team controlled the two sets they won before the fifth set, setting up a big test for the young Monarchs after falling in five games last week in the MAC Freedom opener to FDU-Florham. King's posted the first four points in the last stanza, ending the spurt on a service ace by freshman Taylor Mueller.

The Monarchs continued to lead, taking their biggest advantage at 9-4 after a setting error by the Valiants. Manhattanville would get back into the set with three straight points to make the score 10-7, but freshman right side Becca Goldberg collected a kill to stop the Valiant run. Manhattanville got as close as 12-10 after a kill by Laura Livolsi, but senior Rachel Miller notched back-to-back kills for King's followed by an attacking error by the hosts to end the contest and give KC the victory.

King's controlled the opening set, thanks to hitting .207 in the stanza while holding Manhattanville to .077 attacking while forcing nine hitting errors. The Valiants came right back and posted 14 kills in the second set to even the match at a game apiece. The give and take match continued in the third game, with King's hitting a match-best .282 while committing just three errors to roll to the 2-1 lead.

Manhattanville wasn't about to let the match go though, with the Valiants hammering down 12 kills along with committing no errors in the set to tie the match and send it to the fifth. The five-set win over Manhattanville was the second straight while the last three wins for King's over the Valiants have gone the distance. In fact, four of the last five meetings between the two teams have gone five sets, though Tuesday's match was the final as conference opponents as Manhattanville College will join the Skyline Conference in 2019-20. 

Miller finished the contest with a team-leading 19 terminations, hitting .250 while swinging 56 times, chalking up 11 digs as well. The double-double for the senior was her ninth of the season. The Monarchs also got 11 terminations from Goldberg, and freshman Christie Brown also registered nine kills and five digs.

Freshman Wiatt Hoffmann handed out 44 assists and tallied 12 digs, her fifth double-double of the year, and Mueller added 31 digs and a team-best four service aces. Newcomer Karissa Hartzell contributed 11 digs as well for the Monarchs, and sophomore middle hitter Rachel Galante collected nine kills and a solo block.

King's hit .186 on the match, tallying 52 kills on the evening, winning the contest despite being outscored 67-59 on the night. Livolsi posted a match-best 25 terminations in the loss for Manhattanville (7-2, 1-1 MAC Freedom), with Monica Lopez tallied a match-high 33 digs.

The Monarchs (9-3, 1-1 MAC Freedom) will now return home for a Homecoming Weekend match in McGrane Gymnasium against Bryn Athyn College Friday, September 21 at 5 p.m. in non-conference action.