Box Score
Championship Photo Gallery

ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley defended its Commonwealth Conference championship Saturday night, outlasting Elizabethtown in a five-set classic, 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-13), to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Dutchmen (31-2) will make their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, and will learn their opponent and competition site on Monday morning at 11 a.m. during the live selection show on NCAA.com.

It was the first CC final to go to five sets, and LVC joins former CC member Juniata as the only multiple-time champion. The volleyball team is the first LVC team to repeat as conference champions since the men's basketball team won two in a row in 1992-93 and 1993-94.

#Joelle Snyder#, with 19 kills, including three on LVC's last five points, was named tournament Most Valuable Player. #Emily Hopkins# led all players with 21 kills, and #Michelle Little# hit 15 while Jess Raber had nine.. #Emily Perkins# put up 63 assists in the five-setter; #Angela Kuperavage# had a team-best 26 digs.

Lindsay Palm led E-town with 16 kills, hitting a blistering .419, while Kayla Deats swung for 14 kills and had two solo and 11 block assists.

LVC had to overcome some outstanding play at the net by E-town, which stuffed 18 total team blocks and hit .233. After allowing an outstanding serving night in their first match-up earlier this season, LVC limited the Blue Jays to only four aces.

After taking an early lead in the opening set, LVC neutralized an E-town comeback run in the first set, coming back to force match point. Emily Hopkins' kill ended it at 25-23.

E-town led by a point or two for the early going of the second set, but some solid hitting spurred a 10-3 mid-set run that gave them an 18-10 advantage. But the Dutchmen chipped away and used a run of their own to pull within three at 20-17. The Jays closed the door on the comeback try, though, going on a 5-0 run to force set point and winning on a service error, 25-18.

The third set was a close one in the early going, with LVC taking an early 4-0 lead before E-town tied it at 6-6. Neither side led by more than two until a 3-0 spurt gave the Blue Jays a 16-13 lead, and despite pulling back within a point four times, E-town again pulled out to a 22-19 lead. However, LVC inched back into it and tied the set at 23 with Hopkins' kill, but E-town ended with  a kill and a block to close it out at 25-23.

Reeling after two consecutive set losses, LVC came out on fire in the fourth, extending a 10-4 lead with some outstanding hitting and an ace by Snyder. The lead built to eight at 16-8 before E-town burned their second timeout, and E-town never recovered as LVC simply kept the ball out of the Blue Jays' hands, only allowing three points off serve the rest of the set as Little boomed two kills to end it 25-16.

E-town ran out to a 6-4 lead in the fifth, but LVC quickly swung the momentum on three Blue Jay errors to take a 7-6 lead. The two teams tied it up four times before Snyder's kill broke an 11-11 tie. After a Blue Jays timeout, Angela Kuperavage served up a big ace to make it 13-11, and after an E-town block, Snyder boomed another kill to set up championship point. Another E-town timeout led to another Blue Jay block, and after LVC took a breather, Snyder went out and stuffed a kill from the middle to secure the title.