Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior Natalie Goodfellow and senior Lexi Horstman threw down a match-high 16 kills apiece and freshman Margaret Prebula added 14 kills as the Lebanon Valley College volleyball team clinched a first-round Commonwealth Conference home playoff match, sweeping Moravian College 3-0 Tuesday evening at the LVC Gymnasium.
With the win, the team's eighth in row, Lebanon Valley (24-4, 6-1 CC) finishes second in the Commonwealth standings to earn the two seed in the conference playoffs. LVC will host Elizabethtown College in the Commonwealth semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 2 while Moravian, the four seed, will visit top-seeded Juniata in the other semifinal.
Junior Kelly Bauer had 14 kills to lead Moravian (20-9, 4-3 CC).
Lebanon Valley trailed just once the entire night and hit .265 while holding Moravian to .103 hitting.
The first game was close most of the way before LVC pulled away late. Lebanon Valley jumped to an early 9-5 lead before the Greyhounds came back with a 5-1 run to tie it at 10. The Valley answered with a 5-0 spurt, but Moravian promptly answered with another 5-1 run to make it 16-15. But that's when the Dutchmen made their move, outscoring the 'Hounds 13-4 en route to a 30-21 win.
In the second game, LVC led just 11-10 before scoring four straight points to open up a five-point cushion. The Greyhounds rallied with the next three points, but that's as close they would get, as LVC gradually pulled away for a 30-20 victory.
Moravian enjoyed its only lead of the night in the third game, when it led 5-4. Lebanon Valley used a 9-3 run to assume a nine-point lead (22-13), but the Greyhounds whittled the deficit down to three (26-23) late in the game, prompting an LVC timeout. Lebanon Valley held off Moravian the rest of the way and won 30-25.
Prebula led a seven-block effort for Lebanon Valley, as she totaled four block assists. Freshman Brandi Roth had 17 digs to go with three blocks while senior Katie Ferree had 16 digs and a pair of aces. Freshman Erin Yost also had 16 digs while senior Cat Roth handed out 43 assists. Goodfellow added three block assists.
Lebanon Valley concludes its regular season on Saturday, when it travels to the University of Scranton for a tri-match with Scranton and Gallaudet University.
[Photo - Senior Cat Roth, who had 43 assists in Lebanon Valley's 3-0 win over Moravian on Tuesday]
-lvc-