CARLISLE, Pa. – Robyn Stepler and Mattea Penner continued their strong starts to the season as the Lebanon Valley Volleyball team dropped a pair of close matches on Saturday to Dickinson College and Eastern Mennonite University.
 
Game One vs. Dickinson
The Dutchmen took on the host Red Devils in the first match of the day. Dickinson won 25-21, 25-16, 27-25 in a close match. Dickinson got off to a strong start with a 9-3 advantage. The Dutchmen responded with a 5-2 run to cut the lead down to three points. The teams traded four-point rallies as the Red Devils took a 16-13 lead in the set. Penner and Stepler had back-to-back kills and then an attack error for Dickinson made it a one-point set. Dickinson used three consecutive kills to increase their lead to 23-19. The teams then traded points as Dickinson took the first set.
 
The Red Devils scored the first eight points of the second set and built their advantage to 15-3. The score was 19-5 when the Dutchmen used a big rally to cut it to 22-16. The run was started by a pair of block assists by Teaguen Reynolds and Riley Mack. Penner had a pair of kills at the end of the run. Dickinson was able to win the next three points to win the set. The Red Devils used a strong start to the third set to build a 9-2 advantage. The lead was 20-10 before LVC used a big 11-point rally to take a 21-20 advantage. The teams battled back and forth the rest of the set, but three consecutive points gave the Red Devils a 27-25 set win.
 
Inside the Box

• Penner had a strong match with 11 kills and a .370 hitting percentage.
• Stepler had 21 assists, three digs, and an ace.
• Margaret Cole added seven kills, two solo blocks, and two block assists.
• Lyla Arfanella led the team in digs with six.

 
Game Two vs. Eastern Mennonite
Eastern Mennonite defeated the Dutchmen in three close sets by scores of 25-23, 25-21, and 25-22. Reynolds had two kills and a service ace to propel the Dutchmen to an early 5-3 lead in the opening set. A kill by Kathryn Sansom made it 9-5 before the Royal slowly started to cut into the advantage. After a Libby Lindau kill that made it 12-7, EMU won six of the next seven points to tie things up. The set was still tied at 17 when the Royals used a 4-1 run to take the lead. Penner had three consecutive service aces to give the Dutchmen back the lead, but EMU finished the set strong by winning four of the final five points.
 
The Dutchmen started the second set by winning four of the first five points. The Royals kept the set close and tied things up at seven. EMU used a 7-0 run to go up 14-8 and led 18-12 before the Dutchmen rallied with four consecutive points. The Royals still had a two-point lead at 22-20 and won three of the final four points to take the second set. LVC won the first four points of the third set and was able to maintain a four-point advantage until it was 9-5. The Royals tied the set with the next four points. LVC led by two before another four-point swing for the Royal gave them the first lead of the set at 16-14. EMU got to 20 points first and held a 23-19. The Dutchmen won three of the next four points to close the gap to 24-22 but the Royals finished off the match with a kill.
 
Inside the Box

• Lindau led the team in kills with eight.
• Penner added seven kills, seven digs, and three service aces.
• Reynolds finished with seven kills.
• Stepler added 20 more assists to her season total and had nine digs.
• Abigail Souder had nine digs and three assists. 

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be back in action on Tuesday as they host Penn State Berks in the home opener at Sorrentino Gymnasium. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. against the Lions.
 
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