Messiah def. Lebanon Valley 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-20)

How It Happened
GRANTHAM, Pa. – Lebanon Valley was defeated in a hard-fought MAC Commonwealth Semifinal match by Messiah 3-0 on Wednesday night. The Dutchmen slipped to 21-10 and the Falcons moved to 26-7 and will travel to Stevenson to play in the MAC Commonwealth Championship match on Saturday.

The opening set was extremely close in the early going as Greta Weidemoyer's kill in the middle of the set made it 9-8. Messiah, however, scored three in a row to overtake LVC and go up 11-9. The Dutchmen responded with a 4-1 spurt to take a 15-12 advantage. The Falcons again responded and tied the first set at 18-18. Messiah went on to score seven of the next eight points to take the opening set 25-19.

Just like the first, the middle set was close in the beginning and LVC even led 20-19 after a kill by Nina Mentzer. A Messiah attack error and Amber Deshong service ace made it 22-19 and forced the Falcons to burn a timeout. The timeout seemed to work for Messiah, as it scored five straight to take a 24-22 advantage and eventually took the set 25-23.

The Falcons opened up the final set on a 12-4 run, but the Dutchmen hung in and were only down by five later at 13-8. LVC came to within four at 22-18, but Messiah was able to hold off the Dutchmen and win the third set 25-20.

Inside the Numbers
 - Jess Attieh led with 11 kills, followed by Weidemoyer with eight and Deshong with five.
 - Reina Eckman totaled three blocks, while Weidemoyer (14) and Erin Koons (10) were both in double digits in assists.
 - Morgan Webb posted a team-high 13 digs and Attieh and Weidemoyer added nine each.

What's Next?
LVC has put in a bid for the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament and will find out when and where it plays early next week.