Lebanon Valley def. Messiah 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-16)
 
LVC Starters
Reed, Deshong, Smeltz (L), Shelly, Attieh, Class, Burnheimer
 
Messiah Starters
Marsch, Wilcox, Dahlman (L), Preudhomme, Hunsberger, Manwaring, Underman
 
How It Happened
Lebanon Valley got stellar play from everywhere on the court in a dominant 3-0 victory over Messiah on Thursday night in each team's MAC Commonwealth finale. The Dutchmen improved to 16-10, 6-2 MACC to lock up the third seed, while the Falcons dropped to 13-15, 5-3 MACC and fell to the No. 4 seed.
 
Before the start of tonight's match, LVC honored its four seniors in Amber Deshong, Reina Eckman, Erin Koons, and Jess Attieh on Senior Night.
 
The opening set was full of back-and-forth action until at 7-7 when the Dutchmen went on a 7-2 run to take a 14-9 lead and force Messiah to call a timeout. From there, the Falcons stayed within striking distance, but at 17-12, a 4-0 spurt by LVC put the set out of reach. Jayna Class registered two kills in that spurt, while Jensen Burnheimer added another, as the Dutchmen went on to take the first set by a 25-14 margin.
 
LVC continued to take it to Messiah in the second set and the Dutchmen began the set on a 5-0 run, including two more kills from Class and one from Attieh. After the Falcons stopped the bleeding momentarily, LVC went on another spurt, scoring four in-a-row to go up 9-1. In the set, the Dutchmen led by as many as 12 points en route to the 25-12 second-set win to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third and final set, LVC jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead, capped by Reily Shelly's kill. Messiah came to within three at 8-5, but a service error from the Falcons, followed by an Attieh kill, put the Dutchmen up by five at 10-5. Then, with LVC still up at 23-13, Messiah rattled off three straight, but it was too little, too late for the Falcons, as Class recorded a kill on the ensuing point and then finished off the Falcons with a service ace to give the Dutchmen the 25-16 third-set win and 3-0 match victory.
 
Inside the Numbers
 - Attieh finished with 15 kills (.438), one service ace, one assist, and four digs.
 - Class was also in double digits in kills with 11 (.556), while adding three service aces, three block assists, and three digs.
 - Burnheimer led both teams with 31 assists and she chipped in four kills and five digs.
 - Eckman had three kils, while Emily Smeltz and Carli Sholl added eight digs apiece.
 - Shelly led LVC with 10 digs and she chipped in seven kills (.357).
 
See You Wednesday!
Thanks to tonight's win, LVC will enter next week's MAC Commonwealth Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will travel to Glenside Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to battle No. 2 Arcadia. No. 4 Messiah will host No. 5 Messiah on Monday night in the Play-In Game with the winner heading to Owings Mills, Md. to take on No. 1 Stevenson on Wednesday.
 
Who's Next?
The Dutchmen travel to Bridgewater, Va. on Saturday to partake in Bridgewater's Tri-Match. LVC takes on St. Mary's (Md.) at 1 p.m. before finishing with the hosts at 3 p.m.
 
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