ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College split its matches Saturday, taking third at the Flying Dutchmen Tournament thanks to a 3-0 loss to Haverford College and a 3-2 win over York College.

The third time proved to be the charm for the Dutchmen (7-3) against York, facing the team for the third time in 10 days and earning their first win voer the Spartans.

Haverford won the tournament title, while Penn State-Altoona finished second.

LVC started Saturday against a heavy-hitting Haverford team that simply overpowered the Dutchmen despite a cagy effort. The Fords took three straight against the Valley (30-24, 30-24, 30-26).

After a game one that was tightly contested throughout, game two saw Haverford take over when Kelsey Cantwell served three consecutive aces to put the score at 27-24. Two costly errors by Joelle Snyder and Jess Raber and an ace from Dana Mullenhard ended the game for Haverford.

In game three, Head Coach Wayne Perry decided to replace setter Erin Yost and put in Emily Perkins. Brandi Roth led with an ace early on in game three. The Dutchmen rallied and took a 4-0 run. Contributing to the spurt was great digging by Michelle Little and smart hitting by Margaret Prebula. Roth continued her great play with a handful of great digs on a mix of hard driven balls and soft, well-placed, tips, keeping the Valley in the game.

Despite a triple block by the Fords, Prebula found a way to keep the kills coming as she either tipped a perfect ball behind the trio of towering defenders, or simply powered through it. The teams traded off points for the most part, the Valley, five point lead in hand, content to side out until they had one. Haverford, however, had other plans.

Great digging and hitting from Rebecca Salvo gave Haverford the lead 26-24 and a couple points later she put the game away with a smartly-executed tip kill.  

While Haverford moved on to the finals, the Valley would play York again in the consolation game.

Game one saw neither team serve more than three times consecutively as the teams battled evenly. With the score 24-20 in York’s favor, Christa Vrabel scooped up a dig that led to a huge kill by Snyder. In the next play, Roth came up big on defense leading to a great dump by Yost for the kill. However, their efforts would not be enough and York took game one 30-26.

In game two, Perry again put in freshman setter Perkins to run the offense. The strategy worked as the Dutchmen started stronger in this game than in any other of the weekend. Roth went on a 10 serve tear, including one ace, to jumpstart the Dutchmen ahead 13-3. The Valley would not relinquish that lead as they went on to win game two 30-21.

The Spartans were the team with jump in the third game as they ran out to a 7-1 lead, forcing the Valley into an early timeout. York proved too much for LVC again as they went on to win game three by double digits.

With their backs at the wall the Valley needed to find a spark to rally around and they found it in the serves of Vrabel and Little. Vrabel started it off at 12-15 to bring the Valley back within two and kept going from there. The Spartans could not handle Vrabel’s floater and were forced into a time out when the Valley tied it up. After a side out from York, Little took over with a nice run of serves that included an ace. Prebula threw down a kill to give LVC game point at 29-27, a York handling error gave the Dutchmen the game.

In a decisive game five, Little proved her game four performance was no fluke as she aced York twice more. With the score at 11-8, Snyder rolled one that plastered the line, putting the Valley up by four. Scrappy play by the Dutchmen and a couple of York errors led to match point for the Valley. York rallied to pull within three, but a great pass, set, hit combo from Roth, Perkins and Snyder won the match and secured a third place finish for LVC.

LVC will return to action Wednesday, heading to Moravian for a 7 p.m. match.

By Shaun Kreider '08, sports information assistant

Flying Dutchman Tournament Saturday Results

Champion: Haverford
Runner-Up: Penn State-Altoona
Third place: Lebanon Valley

Championship Bracket

PS-Altoona 3, York 2 (26-30, 19-30, 30-24, 36-34, 15-10)
Haverford 3, Lebanon Valley 0 (30-24, 30-24, 30-26)
Third-place match: LVC 3, York 2 (26-30, 30-21, 20-30, 30-28, 15-11)
Championship: Haverford 3, PS-Altoona 0 (32-30, 30-27, 30-8)

F&M 3 Ursinus 1 (30-20, 30-25, 16-30, 30-20)
F&M 3 Neumann 2 (28-30, 28-30, 30-27, 30-25, 15-13)

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Lauren Carter (PS-ALTOONA)
Becca Salvo (HAVERFORD)
Margot Phelan (F&M)
Emily Hinchclif (HAVERFORD)
Maritza Fair (F&M)
Katie Hertz (YORK)