Syracuse, NY (September 10, 2004)- On the first day of the Big Orange Invitational, Manhattan fell in the final match of the evening to Syracuse. The host Orange defeated the Lady Jaspers, 3-1 (30-25, 26-30, 30-18, 30-18), behind 24 assists and 16 digs from Kathryn Dercher. Maggie Pfeifer, who had 12 kills, and Megan O'Dorisio, who posted 10 kills and 15 digs, led the way for Manhattan.
After dropping the first game, Manhattan came right back to take the second game from the Orange, while only making three attack errors during the stanza. However, in the third game, Syracuse played flawlessly and did not register a single attack error en route to taking the lead in the match before closing it out in four games. Kristen Conway had 13 kills and Jen Malcolm had 10 kills for a .614 hitting percentage to pace Syracuse. Lori Bambauer recorded 29 assists, while Ashley Watson (11) and Allison O'Neill (10) finished the match with double-digits in digs. Manhattan's record now stands at 1-4, while Syracuse improves to 6-0.
Manhattan will play two matches tomorrow when round-robin play resumes in the Big Orange Invitational. At 10 a.m., the Lady Jaspers will square off against Cleveland State, which fell to Syracuse in three games earlier in the day on Friday. The Lady Jaspers then will take on the University of New Hampshire at 2 p.m. UNH knocked off Siena on Friday in three games.