ANNVILLE, Pa . – Junior Christina Wallace delivered a match-high 19 kills and Moravian College spoiled the opening of Lebanon Valley's new gymnasium with a 3-0 Commonwealth Conference semifinal victory in women's volleyball action Wednesday evening.
The third-seeded Greyhounds (26-8) will now meet top-seeded Juniata College, a 3-0 winner over fourth-seeded Susquehanna University in the other semifinal, on Saturday.
Lebanon Valley (20-15) will now hope for a bid in the ECAC Championships. Pairings will be announced on Monday.
Sophomore Lindsey Siracusa notched nine kills and six blocks for Moravian.
Sophomore Lexi Horstman (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) led the Valley with a team-high 14 kills while senior Angie McCracken (York Springs, Pa./Woodsboro (Md.) added 13 kills and tied a match-high with six blocks. Junior Amanda Bahn (York, Pa./Spring Grove) added 10 kills and a match-high 19 digs.
The first game was an extremely close contest that featured five lead changes and 13 ties. The second-seeded Flying Dutchmen, who were hosting a Commonwealth playoff game for the first time in program history, led by as much five (16-11) before Moravian went on an 8-1 run to assume a 19-17 lead. LVC reclaimed the lead (22-21) after a 5-2 surge, but Moravian answered with a 5-1 spurt of its own to go ahead 27-23. Lebanon Valley came back with a 5-1 run to tie the game at 28-28, but the Greyhounds scored the final two points to go ahead 1-0.
Moravian never trailed in the second game after jumping out to a 10-3 lead. The Greyhounds saw their advantage swell to as much as eight (23-15) before LVC pulled together for an 8-3 run that cut the deficit to three (26-23). Moravian held on down the stretch and won 30-25.
The Greyhounds sewed up its eighth straight berth in the Commonwealth championship match with a 30-21 win in Game Three. Lebanon Valley led briefly (3-2) in the early going, but Moravian took the lead for good after a 10-3 Greyhound run that put the team ahead 12-6. A late 4-1 LVC surge cut the gap to four (21-17) but Moravian outscored the Valley 9-4 the rest of the way.
Sophomore Cat Roth (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic) distributed a match-high 43 assists to go with 15 digs. Freshman Valerie Korsak had 42 assists for Moravian.
[Photo - Senior Angie McCracken, who had 13 kills and a match-high six blocks in Lebanon Valley's 3-0 loss to Moravian in the Commonwealth semifinals Wednesday evening at the new LVC Gymnasium]
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