ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team overcame a slow start and had 11 aces in a 3-1 victory over host Elizabethtown College on Wednesday evening at Thompson Gymnasium in Elizabethtown.
 
The Dutchmen (3-1) defeated the Blue Jays (2-2) for the first time since 2015 after dropping the first set 25-13. LVC came back with a strong second set winning 25-19 and then rallied to take the third set 25-22. The Dutchmen got out to an early lead in the fourth set and rode the advantage to a 25-19 victory.
 
The match featured a lot of strong defense with many long rallies. The first set started with the Dutchmen getting out to a 4-2 lead after a kill by Margaret Cole. The Blue Jays responded with two consecutive points to tie the match and then scored three of the following four points to take a 7-5 lead. After a service error, Etown went on a 10-1 run to build a 17-7 advantage. Mattea Penner stopped the run with a kill and then Robyn Stepler had back-to-back service aces to cut it to seven. That was as close as LVC would get in the set as the Blue Jays closed on an 8-3 run.
 
Elizabethtown began the second set strong with a 6-3 advantage. A block by Cole and Stepler started a 6-0 Dutchmen run that put LVC up by three. The Blue Jays stopped the rally with a point, but LVC came right back with five straight points with Abigail Souder serving to build a 14-7 lead. The lead grew to 20-12 before Etown used a rally to cut it to 20-16. LVC managed to get the advantage back up to six points after a kill by McInerney and kept that advantage through the end of the set.
 
The Dutchmen got out to a good start in the third set with a 3-1 lead. Elizabethtown responded with an 8-0 run to take a 9-3 advantage. Penner stopped the run with a kill and LVC slowly chipped into the deficit. Back-to-back aces by Stepler tied the set at 14 and then Reynolds and McInerney had a big block to give LVC the lead. The Blue Jays fought back and got to 20 points first. Penner and Cole recorded a block to tie the set up at 21 and then a Stepler kill gave the Dutchmen the lead. Penner had consecutive aces to make it 24-21 and two points later Cole ended the set with a kill.
 
Reynolds had kills for the first two points of the fourth set. The Dutchmen were able to get out to a 6-3 advantage before a 4-1 run by the Blue Jays tied things up at seven. Penner gave the Dutchmen back the lead with a kill and then a service ace before McInerney had back-to-back points. Etown cut the lead down to 12-10 but then a 5-0 run fueled by three McInerney points gave LVC a 17-10 advantage. Elizabethtown managed to cut the lead down to 19-17 but the Dutchmen responded with a strong 6-2 run to end the match.
 
Inside the Box

• The Dutchmen had a season-high 11 aces led by Penner with a career-high six.
• McInerney had a match-high 17 kills and a .361 hitting percentage with two block assists and one ace.
• Penner recorded eight kills and led the team with 20 digs.
• Stepler had another strong match with 35 assists, 14 digs, four aces, three kills, and a block assist.
• Reynolds had eight kills and three block assists.
• Cole also had three block assists and six kills.
• Souder had 10 digs while Lyla Arfanella added 10 digs.
• The win over Elizabethtown was the first for LVC since defeating the Blue Jays 3-2 on October 24, 2015 in Annville. Etown had won four straight meetings between the programs.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be on the road once again this Saturday with a tri-match at Dickinson College. LVC will face the host Red Devils at 11 a.m. in Carlisle before taking on Eastern Mennonite University at 1 p.m.

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