RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's volleyball team fell to Manhattan 3-0 on Wednesday evening in non-conference action.
 
All three sets were close between the two teams, but Manhattan managed to edge out the Knights in each one. The Jaspers took set one 25-22, set two 25-21 and set three 25-22.
 
The loss drops the Knights to 2-21 on the season while Manhattan improves to 6-16 overall.
 
The Jaspers got on the board first in set one but the Knights immediately answered back with a kill from Caroline Laton (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon). The teams exchanged points and the set was tied several times. Manhattan gained a slight 7-5 advantage but the Knights tied things up with two points in a row and eventually took a 9-7 lead.
 
The set became tied again at nine, 11 and 12 before the Jaspers started to break open a lead. They scored five points in a row to take a 17-12 lead. The Knights eventually came back to tie things up, 18-18. The set was again tied at 19 and 20. The Jaspers scored three straight points to take a 23-20 lead and force the Knights to take a timeout and regroup. Despite another two points from the Knights, Manhattan closed things out on a Milena Janjusevic kill.
 
In the second set, Fairleigh Dickinson fell behind early and the Jaspers built up an 11-6 lead before the Knights called a timeout and started to make a comeback. Laton and Erika Sullivan (Elk Grove, Calif./Pleasant Grove) scored on back-to-back kills and the Knights benefitted from a Manhattan attack error to cut the lead to 11-9. Another Laton kill brought the score within one, 13-12.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson tied things up, 17-17 and took its first lead of the night on a Sullivan service ace.  The Jaspers tied things up at 21 and scored four straight points after that to win the second set.
 
The third set started off close, much like the first two. There was a lot of back-and-forth play, with both teams holding brief leads before the other team tied it up. The Knights finally cracked opened a lead, starting with a Laton kill. Strebig and Laton earned a point on a block before Strebig scored on a kill to give Fairleigh Dickinson a 10-7 lead.
 
The Knights held on to the lead until the Jaspers eventually tied things up at 21 on a Janjusevic service ace. Manhattan outscored the Knights 4-1 to close out the set and the match.
 
Carly O'Sullivan (Bogota, N.J./Bogota) had eight kills for the Knights and Laton added seven. Laton also had a team-high six blocks. Sullivan led with four aces while Kirstin Trabert (Corona, Calif./Norco) added 14 digs and Josephine Gallagher (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) chipped in 13 digs.
 
Manhattan had a hitting percentage of .197 compared to Fairleigh Dickinson's .100.
 
The Knights are back in action on Saturday with a home match against Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. It is the first game of a four-game homestand.