Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College made sure that lightning didn't strike twice for Widener this season, avenging an earlier loss to the Pride in the regular season with a 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-15) sweep in a Commonwealth Conference women's volleyball semifinal match. With the win, LVC advances to the conference championship match for the third season in a row. The Dutchmen will defend the crown they won in 2008 on Nov. 7 against Elizabethtown at 6 p.m. The Blue Jays defeated Messiah, 3-0, in the other semifinal.
The Dutchmen corrected the mistakes that resulted in their only conference loss this season at Widener, hitting .277 as a team with 45 kills and only 12 errors on 119 attempts. Joelle Snyder was the big hitter for LVC, registering 13 kills to only one error on 29 swings - a hitting % of .414. Emily Hopkins was next for the Dutchmen with 11 kills. Michelle Little added eight kills for LVC - three of which came on LVC's first seven points.
Emily Perkins made sure that her hitters had the ball in the right spot, with deft placement of her 40 assists. She also came through with three kills, changing things up on the Widener defense when she could.
Little was active on defense as well, picking up a team-high 13 digs. Angela Kuperavage followed with 12 and Stephanie Derk was right behind her with 11. The defense was a total team effort as eight of nine Dutchmen to play in the match had at least two digs. The Dutchmen also stepped up at the net on defense, with three solo blocks - two from Jamie Hawk - and another three assisted blocks.
The Dutchmen were on the attack from the get go, running out to a 7-1 lead. Snyder and Little each had three kills in the opening moments of the match to pace LVC. After tying the match at 1-1, Widener was not able to hang close, and Widener used its second timeout at 17-7 in hopes of slowing things down. Kills from Jess Raber and Snyder extended the lead to 19-7 for LVC. Three uncharacteristic errors for LVC brought the match to 19-11, but the Dutchmen went on a 6-1 run to end the set at 25-12. The final four points all came on kills from Hopkins.
Widener looked to bounce back in the second set and square the match, turning an early LVC 6-3 lead into a 13-8 advantage for the Pride. However, the Dutchmen flipped momentum thanks to a kill from Little, and won seven of the next nine points to tie the set at 15-15. Two Snyder kills and two errors from Widener resulted in a 19-15 LVC lead, and the Dutchmen looked to be in control. Widener would not relent, and battled back to knot the set at 22-22. Hopkins swung the set in LVC's favor with a kill. Back on serve, the Perkins dialed up her first ace of the night to give LVC set point. Hawk then brought the crowd to its feet with a kill to clinch the set and give LVC a 2-0 lead.
The third set was all LVC, as the Dutchmen opened up a 4-0 lead quickly and never looked back. Four aces in the set helped LVC maintain a big advantage. An errant attack from Alectra Edison proved to be match point for the Dutchmen.
LVC and Elizabethtown will not have to go back too far in their memories to scout each other. The two teams met on Oct. 28 in a five-set thriller at LVC that ensured the Dutchmen would have home court for the final.LVC trailed 2-1 in the match, but came all the way back for the big win.
