BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, New York (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team battled through five sets on Saturday afternoon at The Hill Center but came up just short against Manhattanville University, 3–2 (22–25, 23–25, 25–22, 25–23, 15–9) in Skyline Conference play.
The Bears controlled much of the early going, taking the first two sets behind efficient attacking and strong back-row defense. St. Joseph's opened Set 1 with a 7-4 lead and held steady as Taylor Knight (San Ramon, Calif.), Abigail Encinia (Sunnyvale, Texas), and Carissa Zwiefelhofer (North Bend, Wash.) racked up key kills late to close it 25–22. The second frame saw similar momentum: after trailing 5-2, the Bears surged ahead 23-19 thanks to five kills in the stanza by Zwiefelhofer and Keren Crespo (Meriden, Conn.) while Knight had four of her own. The Bears then held off a late Valiant push for a 25–23 win and a 2–0 match lead.
Manhattanville shifted the tide in the third, using a long serving stretch from Loren Hernandez to erase an early deficit and go ahead 18–13. St. Joseph's narrowed it to 22–21 on a Crespo finish, but the Valiants closed 25–22 to stay alive. The fourth set proved another back-and-forth battle. The visitors jumped ahead 6–0 before St. Joseph's clawed back within one at 21–20 behind consecutive kills from Zwiefelhofer and Encinia. The rally came up just short, though, as the Valiants edged the frame 25–23 to even the match 2–2.
In the deciding set, Manhattanville capitalized on early service pressure to open 8–3 and never looked back, taking the clincher 15–9 to complete the comeback.
Encinia notched her first collegiate triple-double with 14 kills, 14 assists, and 14 digs, while Zwiefelhofer matched her with 14 kills, 11 assists, and 20 digs for her second triple-double of the campaign. Knight posted 14 kills, 15 digs, and three aces, with Crespo adding 11 kills. Mariana Medrano (El Paso, Texas) anchored the defense with 31 digs and 12 assists. The Bears totaled 59 kills and 115 digs while hitting .149 as a team. Notably, St. Joseph's won the opening two sets against the Valiants for the first time in six all-time meetings dating back to 2019.
Up Next
The Bears travel to SUNY Old Westbury next Saturday, October 18.
