ANNVILLE, Pa. – Taylor McInerney had a match-high 18 kills and
Robyn Stepler had 18 assists to lead the Lebanon Valley volleyball team on Tuesday evening in a close 3-1 defeat to Stevens Institute of Technology in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom play.
The Dutchmen (11-8, 3-1 MAC Freedom) won the first set in a battle for first place in the conference standings. The Ducks (10-6, 4-0 MAC Freedom) responded by winning the next three sets to extend their conference-winning streak to 13. The teams battled back and forth throughout the whole match in a tightly contest affair.
LVC broke a 3-3 tie in the first set with a pair of points to take a 5-3 lead, The Ducks struck right back to tie the set up at five. The match was tied at seven before a trio of Stevens attack errors gave the Dutchmen a 10-7 lead. The Ducks rallied and were able to take a 16-15 lead before
Robyn Stepler had a kill and a service ace to give LVC back the lead. The Dutchmen kept the strong play going and finished the set on a 8-2 run to win 25-19.
The second set was just as close at the beginning with Stevens holding a slim 5-4 lead after a Stepler kill. The Ducks scored the next four points to extend the lead to 9-4. LVC fought back and closed the gap to 12-8 following a pair of kills by
Libby Lindau and McInerney. The Ducks were able to take their largest lead of the set at 17-9 but the Dutchmen would not go away and were able to get within five points at 21-16. That was as close as they would get though as the Ducks tied the match up with a 25-19 win.
Stevens held a 3-2 lead the begin the third set before the Dutchmen rallied off five consecutive points to take a 7-3 lead. The Ducks were able to go on a run of their own to retake the lead 10-9 and then extended the lead to 15-11. LVC fought back and took a 18-17 lead in the set following a four-point rally. The Ducks responded with five of the next seven points to retake a 22-20 lead. LVC got within 23-22 before consecutive points to end the set gave Stevens a 25-22 win to take a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set began the same way as the first three with neither team able to take an early lead. The set was tied at six after the teams traded points before Stevens used nine straight points to take a 15-6 lead. LVC kept battling but the Ducks took the set 25-13 to win the match.
Inside the Box
- McInerney hit .382 and had a match-high 18 kills.
- Stepler finished with 18 assists, four kills, two aces, nine digs, and one solo block.
- Kasey Thomas led the defense with 12 digs.
- Mattea Penner recorded eight kills while Lindau finished with five kills and two solo blocks..
- Sofia Okronley recorded 16 assists.
Up Next
The Dutchmen will be back in action on Thursday evening with a short trip to Middletown to take on Penn State Harrisburg at 7 p.m.
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