DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team will be heading to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year after sweeping Delaware Valley 3-0 on Tuesday evening at James Work Gymnasium in Doylestown. LVC won by scores of 25-8, 25-13, and 25-11.
 
The Flying Dutchmen (11-13, 4-2 MAC Freedom) took control from the very beginning of the match as Sofia Okronley served the team out to a 9-0 lead. Mattea Penner scored the first point of the match after a long rally. Penner and Teaguen Reynolds blocked an attack before Penner recorded another kill. Kylie Nagle recorded a point, and Jillian Jefferys added two points before the Aggies took a timeout. DVU got on the board with a pair of attack errors by the Dutchmen. LVC used three consecutive points to go up by 10 and expanded the lead to 16-4. The Aggies scored the next three points to cut the deficit to 11. Libby Lindau began a 9-1 run to end the set with her first point of the night. Lyla Arfanella had a service ace while Penner tacked on two more points.
 
Penner began the second set with a kill as LVC scored eight of the first 10 points. Jefferys and Reynolds had a block assist, Penner recorded an ace, the Dutchmen had back-to-back blocks, and Breanne Rotz and Okronley finished off the run with kills. Sofia Rios served up a pair of aces to increase the lead to nine points. Del Val cut the lead to seven with a 4-2 rally. LVC answered right back with an 8-2 run that saw five different Dutchmen record points. Penner and Riley Mack got the Dutchmen to set point before DVU held off three serves to get the margin to 24-13. Jefferys put away a set from Okronley to give the Dutchmen a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Delaware Valley scored the first point of the third set and led 2-1. Jefferys jump-started an 8-1 rally for the Dutchmen that included two service aces from Rios and a pair of kills by Rotz. The Aggies responded with five of the next nine points to cut the advantage down to five at 13-8. LVC countered with a 6-2 run to push the lead back up to nine. Penner had a pair of kills during the run, while Casey Levan had a point. Jefferys put away an overpass to get LVC to 20. Levan added another point, and then Rotz got the Dutchmen to match point with her third kill of the set. An attack error by the Aggies ended the match, giving the Dutchmen their fourth conference win and second sweep.
 
Inside the Box

• Penner recorded her 12th double-double of the year with 10 kills and 11 digs. The senior had 275 kills and 243 digs on the season. Penner added one ace and two block assists.
• Jefferys finished with seven kills and two block assists for eight points. Rotz had a career-high five kills on eight attacks and two block assists.
• The Dutchmen had seven service aces, led by Rios with a career-high four. Arfanella added two while Penner had one.
• Reynolds had four of LVC's 14 block assists. Nagle led the team in digs with 14 and added three assists and one kill.
• Okronley had 16 assists and nine digs with one kill. The junior is 13 assists away from 1,000 in her career.
• LVC had a .226 hitting percentage, its third-best of the year. Their seven total blocks are the most this year in a three-set victory.
• The Dutchmen clinched a postseason berth for the fourth consecutive year

Up Next
The Dutchmen will close out the regular season with a pair of home matches beginning with Senior Day on Saturday. LVC closes out the non-conference schedule against Stevenson University on Nov. 1, with a 12 p.m. start against the Mustangs. They will then face Misericordia University next Wednesday, Nov. 5 in what could be a MAC Freedom Semifinal preview.

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