ANNVILLE, Pa. - The Lebanon Valley College volleyball team took a pair of matches at its home quad tournament Saturday, beating Frostburg State, 3-1 (29-31, 30-28, 30-14, 30-14) and Baptist Bible College, 3-0 (30-11, 30-26, 30-12).
The Dutchmen (16-6, 2-0 Commonwealth) swept their quad after winning a five-game classic Friday night against Dickinson College.
Leading the way for the Dutchmen was sophomore weakside hitter Whitney Meyers, who totaled 24 kills on the day. Behind her were Margaret Prebula and Joelle Snyder who had 21 kills and 19 kills, respectively.
Against Frostburg, State, game one was as close as it could get as the Valley lost by only two points.
But the Dutchmen bounced back, earning the victory in a squeaker. Brandi Roth played well in the back row, with 14 digs and two kills. With the score at 29-28, Emily Hopkins threw down an overpass to give the Valley the edge.
LVC stepped up their play in games three and four. The former started out with two big kills from Joelle Snyder. Meyers tipped and tooled her way through the block of the Bobcats to put down 7 kills for the match. Prebula was strong at the net as well with a couple of key kills in the game.
Emily Hopkins came off the bench for the Dutchmen and scored two quick points, first on a kill off an overpass the other off a block assist with Meyers. Prebula and Perkins effectively ran the slide, drawing the block away from the hitter, and it paid dividends for the Valley. After a solo block by Snyder, the Bobcats took a timeout with the score 20-8. It proved ineffective however, as on the ensuing play Meyers and Hopkins combined for another block. Perkins won the match off of a beautifully placed dump.
Against Baptist Bible, Meyers opened up game one with a kill, two digs and two assists all within the first eight points of the match. A dig by Jill Miller, playing the libero spot on Saturday, led to a kill off a joust for Snyder to put the score at 8-4. Another big hit by Meyers forced the Lady Defenders into a timeout with the score at 15-6. The Dutchmen never looked back from that point as they only surrendered five more to take game one 30-11.
The Defenders came out with jump in game two, while the Dutchmen seemed flat. Again it was Meyers sparking the Valley with an amazing save that kept the play alive and eventually Snyder threw down a ball to stop the Defender’s five-point streak. The Dutchmen battled back from a 5-1 deficit bolstered in the back row by the play of Vrabel who served four in a row and added two digs during her streak.
BBC pulled back and took the lead 16-15, capitalizing on their serve placement and a couple of LVC errors. Neither team would budge as the game stayed close. With the score 21-21, Meyers had two crucial kills to put the Valley ahead. After a marathon point which took almost a minute to play, the Defenders found themselves in a 24-22 hole and took a timeout. Though they kept it close for the rest of the game, the Dutchmen held on to win game two 30-26. Meyers had the winning kill.
Both teams came out strong in the third game, but some good serving by Roth and Miller helped the Valley to widen the gap to 18-9. Meyers again turned in an inspired performance as she had 12 kills in the match. Again the Valley proved to strong for the Defenders and won the game 30-12.
LVC will face a critical Commonwealth Conference match Wednesday night, hosting Elizabethtown at 7 p.m.
By Shaun Kreider '08, Sports Information Assistant
