ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team recorded a huge conference victory on Wednesday evening as the Dutchmen defeated visiting Arcadia University 3-1 in a battle of teams that will be in contention for a postseason berth at the end of the season. LVC won the first set 25-21 before Arcadia took the second set 25-18. The Dutchmen won the third set 25-17 and then rallied to win the fourth set 29-27.
 
The Dutchmen (7-11, 2-1 MAC Freedom) came out swinging as they won the first three points. Arcadia (10-8, 1-2 MAC Freedom) answered with the next two points. LVC won four of the next five points as Jasmine Sullivan served up an ace to make it 7-3. Libby Lindau had back-to-back points to put the advantage to 9-4 before the Knights used a 5-1 rally to cut the deficit to one. The Dutchmen responded with a 5-1 run of their own to go up 15-10. Arcadia fought all the way back and evened the score at 18. A pair of attack errors by the Knights and a Mattea Penner point put LVC up by three. Lindau, Jillian Jefferys, and Penner got the Dutchmen to set point. The Knights stayed alive with a block before a service error ended the set.
 
Arcadia came out strong to begin the second set, scoring five of the first seven points. The Dutchmen cut it to 5-4 before a 5-0 run gave the Knights a 10-4 advantage. Riley Mack started a big rally for the Dutchmen as they scored six points in a row. The set was still tied at 13 when Arcadia scored six straight points. The Dutchmen used a 5-2 rally to cut the deficit to three, but that was as close as they got as the Knights closed out the set with the final four points.
 
LVC responded with a great start in the third set as Penner got things going with the first point. Mack then scored three of the next four points. Teaguen Reynolds served up an ace to make it 5-1. The Knights countered with a run and took an 8-7 lead following four consecutive points. Penner ended the run to tie things up, and Kylie Nagle gave the Dutchmen a two-point advantage with an ace. The teams battled back and forth over the next seven points as Arcadia outscored the Dutchmen 4-3. Mack started a 5-1 run with a big point. Margaret Cole and Jefferys had points during the run that was ended on back-to-back points by Lindau. The Dutchmen were able to extend the lead to 22-15 following a point by Reynolds as she put away an overpass. Reynolds and Jefferys got the Dutchmen to set point where Mack and Reynolds came up with a block to put LVC up two sets to one.
 
The Knights scored nine of the first 11 points in the fourth set to take an early lead. Penner stopped a 4-0 run, and then Sullivan served up an ace. Mack and Cole posted a big block before Lindau got the deficit down to three. Arcadia countered LVC's run with a 6-2 rally to go up 15-9. The Dutchmen answered with a big 9-1 run behind five points from Penner to take an 18-16 lead. The Knights responded with a run of their own with eight of the next 11 points to get to set point at 24-21. Mack kept the set alive and then the Dutchmen were the benefactors of a bad set by the Knights. Lyla Arfanella served back-to-back aces that gave the Dutchmen the lead at 25-24. The teams traded points until Penner put away a set from Sofia Okronley and then finished the match with an ace.
 
Inside the Box

• Penner led the way with 17.0 points on 15 kills, two aces, one assist, and six digs. She had eight of her kills in the fourth set.
• Mack had a career-high 12 kills with two block assists and five digs.
• Jefferys had nine kills while Lindau added seven.
• Reynolds finished with five kills, one ace, and one block.
• Cole had a team-high four total blocks and three kills.
• Sullivan led the team with three aces and added 17 assists with 10 digs.
• Okronley had a team-high 28 assists and seven digs.
• Nagle posted 21 digs, two assists, and an ace.
• The Dutchmen have won the past four meetings with the Knights as members of the MAC Freedom. Arcadia won five consecutive meetings from 2017 to 2019 when the teams were both members of the MAC Commonwealth.

Up Next
Lebanon Valley will be off until next Tuesday, Oct. 14, when the team makes the trip up I-81 to face King's College at Scandlon Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre in another big conference match. First serve against the Monarchs is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Stay Connected
Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, X, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC Athletics.