Lebanon Valley def. Widener 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20)

LVC Starters
Reed, Leese, Sides, Burnheimer, Attieh, Class, Smeltz (L)

Widener Starters
Kwon, Winn, Kaufman, Ewart, Dorman, Lee, McAfee (L)

How It Happened
CHESTER, Pa. – Lebanon Valley cruised to a 3-0 victory over Widener in each team's opening MAC Commonwealth match on Wednesday night. The Dutchmen improved to 3-2, 1-0 MAC Commonwealth, while the Pride dropped to 1-4, 0-1 MAC Commonwealth.

The opening set was tight in the beginning with LVC ahead 10-9. From there, the Dutchmen scored seven of the next eight points to increase their advantage to 17-10. Widener, however, responded with a 9-2 spurt to tie the first set at 19-19. Then, Amber Deshong took over the set, as she began a 5-0 run for LVC, which was capped off by another kill from Deshong, guiding the Dutchmen to a 25-20 first-set victory.

The second set was another back-and-forth affair with the score knotted at 9-9. The set remained tight at 15-14, but LVC followed up with three consecutive points, including kills from Nina Mentzer and Jayna Class, as well as a service ace from Emily Smeltz, to make it an 18-14 set. The Pride then answered with a 7-3 spurt to tie things up at 21-21. Once again, the Dutchmen shut the door late in the set and won four of the final five points to win the set 25-22.

Unlike the first two sets, LVC jumped out to a big lead to open the third and led 9-2. Later in the set, Widener came to within two points of LVC at 18-16, but the Dutchmen finished off the Pride and never let Widener get any closer en route to the 25-20 third-set victory and 3-0 match win.

Inside the Numbers
 -   Jess Attieh led LVC with 12 kills, while Jayna Class added nine and Deshong ended with six.
 - Autumn Leese and Class recorded two service aces apiece.
 - Mentzer paced the Dutchmen with four blocks and Attieh and Deshong added two each.
 - Jensen Burnheimer led with a match-high 37 assists for LVC.
 - Smeltz dug out 14 balls, while Burnheimer and Abbey Barnhart each added 11.

What's Next?
LVC will compete in the F&M Scramble on Friday and Saturday. The Dutchmen will take on the hosts on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. before battling Penn State Altoona (11 a.m.) and York (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday.

Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC athletics.