Full Results
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College powered into its third consecutive Commonwealth Conference championship match, stopping Messiah 5-1 in a semifinal match Tuesday.
The second-seeded and defending champion Flying Dutchmen (17-2) will visit top-seeded Elizabethtown, a 5-0 winner over Alvernia, on Saturday at a time to be determined for the championship. It will be the rubber match of three straight finals meetings with the Blue Jays; E-town won in 2008, LVC won in 2009.
LVC picked up a 2-1 lead after doubles, then got quick wins at Nos. 1, 2, and 4 singles to seal the match and end it at 5-1 in just over two hours.
Sarah Grodzinski and
Shayna Heintzelman won easily, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles over Christie McGinley and Stacey Clark, and
Tam Lobb and
Lauren Fulmer beat Annie Gotchel and Sarah Thow at No. 2 8-4. Messiah's lone point came at No. 3 doubles, where Steph Knepper and Katie Marstaller topped
Morgan Brady and
Jess Ferlenda 8-6.
In single, LVC got it done quickly, with Grodzinski finishing first with a 6-0, 6-1 win over McGinley at No. 1. Heintzelman and Fulmer then won nearly simultaneously to complete the match, with Heintzelman beating Clark 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 and Fulmer defeated Gotchel 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4.
When the match ended, Lobb was locked in a battle at No. 3 with Marstaller, tied 6-6 (7-7) in a first-set tiebreak, and Brady was a set up on Knepper at No. 6, 7-5, 1-0 in the second. Thow had a set on Bedford at No. 5, 2-6, 2-3 in the second.
With her win, Fulmer moved to 20-1 overall and 19-0 in dual match play, setting a new program record for best dual match mark in a season. She is a win shy of teammate
Sarah Grodzinski's record of 21 wins in a season set last year; Grodzinski herself is 20-2 this season overall, 18-1 in duals. Heintzelman and Grodzinski also tied the program record for doubles wins in a season, as they both won for the 16th time overall.