HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Lebanon Valley Volleyball team recorded one of the biggest victories of the year on Tuesday evening with a thrilling 3-2 victory at Stevens Institute of Technology to become the first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom team to defeat the Ducks at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J.
 
The Dutchmen (11-8, 3-1 MAC Freedom) ended a 25-match winning streak by Stevens against conference opponents and became just the second conference team to defeat the Ducks since SIT joined the MAC Freedom in 2019. The only other conference loss for the Ducks was a 3-2 defeat at DeSales University on October 26, 2021.
 
Stevens (14-5, 3-1 MAC Freedom) scored five of the first seven points of the match to take the early lead. Taylor McInerney and Jillian Jefferys recorded kills to get LVC within one point before the Ducks used three consecutive points to build a four-point advantage. The Ducks kept the pressure on and built the biggest lead of the set at 15-8. Jefferys started the comeback with a big kill and then Teaguen Reynolds knocked down an over pass to cut the deficit to five. LVC used four consecutive points ending on a big block assist by Margaret Cole and McInerney to get within one at 17-16. The Ducks won three of the next four points to reach 20 points first. Mattea Penner scored a point and then Libby Lindau and Reynolds blocked an attack to bring LVC back within one. Three points later, Jefferys tied the set at 21 with her fourth kill of the set. The teams traded points, and the Ducks led 23-22 when McInerney recorded her fourth kill of the set to tie the match back up. Reynolds put the Dutchmen at set point with a service ace and then Jefferys and Cole blocked an attack to win the set. Penner led the Dutchmen with five kills and an ace in the set.
 
The Ducks scored the first three points of the second set and built a 9-4 lead. Penner and McInerney had a pair of kills as the Dutchmen cut the advantage to 10-7. Stevens scored nine of the next 12 points. LVC fought back with three straight points as Sofia Okronley had a big ace and then Penner added another kill to bring the deficit down to six points. That was as close as the Dutchmen would get as the teams traded points the rest of the way until Stevens took the set 25-18. Penner added four kills in the set while Lyla Arfanella and Abigail Souder had three digs each.
 
LVC started the third set with a pair of attack errors and then scored the next three points ending with an Arfanella ace to take a 3-2 lead. Stevens was able to outscore the Dutchmen 6-3 over the next nine points to go up by two. The lead was still two at 10-8 when LVC used a huge 8-0 run to take control of the set. Jefferys started the run with a kill and then Lindau and Cole recorded a block to tie the set up at 10. McInerney had three kills during the run while Jasmine Sulivan recorded a service ace and three assists. The Ducks stopped the run with a pair of points before the teams traded scores until LVC led 19-14. Stevens was able to cut the lead down to three before a kill by Penner and a pair of block assists by Reynolds and McInerney and then Jefferys and Reynolds. The Ducks used a pair of kills and two blocks to get the score to 24-21 before a service error ended the set and gave LVC a 2-1 lead. McInerney started to get hot in the set with five kills while Penner added another four and three digs. The Dutchmen played great at the net with four blocks in the set.
 
LVC started the fourth set strong with five of the first seven points ending with a Sullivan service ace. Lindau and Penner had back-to-back kills to get the lead to 8-4 and forced Stevens to call a timeout. The Ducks came out of the break and scored the next four points to tie the set up. The teams traded points until Stevens scored three straight points to take a 15-14 lead. Penner tied things up with a kill and then Souder had a nice ace. The team swapped 3-0 runs to make it 19-18 in favor of the Dutchmen. Reynolds got the Dutchmen to 20 first with a big kill at the middle of the net. An attack error and a kill by McInerney brought the lead to 22-20. The Ducks scored the next three points to take the lead before a kill on the outside by McInerney and an error put the Dutchmen at match point. Stevens starved off match point and extended the match to a fifth set with the next three points. McInerney lead all hitters with six kills on 10 attacks in the set.
 
Reynolds and Jefferys blocked the first attack of the fifth set to give the Dutchmen the first point. Penner had a pair of kills to give LVC a 3-1 advantage before Stevens scored the next four points. A big kill by Jefferys and then a service ace by Reynolds tied the set up at five. Stevens took control of the set with the next three points as the squads switched sides with SIT leading 8-5. The teams traded points until it was 12-9. Penner, McInerney, and Okronley had three consecutive kills to tie the set up at 12. The momentum continued as McInerney knocked down a kill from the middle of the court and then an attack by Stevens went long to put LVC at match point. Stevens starved off another match point and score the next three points to give themselves match point. McInerney's 21st kill of the night tied the set at 15 before a bad set gave the Dutchmen another match point with Reynolds serving. The sophomore delivered an ace to give LVC a thrilling victory. Penner and McInerney led the way in the set with four kills each while Reynolds had two aces and a block assist.
 
Inside the Box

• Penner had a great night with a double-double of a career-high 20 kills and 10 digs. She hit .314 and had a service ace.
• McInerney had a match-high 21 kills, four digs, and three block assists.
• Lindau also had double digit kills with 10 while Jefferys finished with seven kills and five block assists.
• Reynolds led the team with three aces and six block assists.
• Okronley had a season-high 28 assists and nine digs with an ace.
• Sullivan also had a great night with a season-high 25 assists and two aces.
• Souder had a team-high 13 digs and four assists.
• The Dutchmen recorded season-highs of 60 assists and 10 total blocks.
• LVC defeated Stevens for the first time since September 30, 2005, snapping a four-match losing skid against the Ducks.

Up Next
The Dutchmen return to Annville for a tri-match on Saturday against Messiah University and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania inside Sorrentino Gymnasium. LVC will take on Messiah in the first match of the day at 11 a.m. and will play Cheyney in the final match of the afternoon.
 
Stay Connected
Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, X, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC Athletics.