ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team wrapped up the regular season with a close 3-1 defeat to visiting Misericordia University on Wednesday evening inside Sorrentino Gymnasium. The Dutchmen won the first set 29-27 before the Cougars won the next three by scores of 25-20, 25-22, and 25-16.
 
LVC (12-14, 4-3 MAC Freedom) battled the Cougars (20-8, 7-0 MAC Freedom) tough in the first of two meetings between the teams this month. The teams were on even ground over the first 10 points of the match. Misericordia scored three consecutive points to go up 8-6. The Dutchmen answered with a 5-1 rally. The teams battled back-and-forth throughout the first set, and LVC took their largest lead of the set at 18-14 following a 4-1 run. The Cougars called a timeout and countered with the next six points. LVC called a timeout and came out strong, scoring six of the next nine points to take a 24-23 advantage. Jillian Jefferys had a pair of kills to put LVC on set point. The teams traded points over the next seven serves as the Cougars tied the set at 27. Sofia Rios knocked down an overpass and then recorded an ace to give the Dutchmen the set victory.
 
Brook Olejniczak and Jefferys got the Dutchmen out to a 3-1 lead in the second set. Margaret Cole and Jefferys blocked an attack to increase the lead to 5-2. Misericordia responded with a big 9-1 run that included seven straight points to take a five-point lead. The Cougars led 13-7 when the teams traded points for 10 serves. Cole started an 8-3 rally for the Dutchmen that cut the deficit to one. LVC had a pair of aces on the run by Casey Levan and Kylie Nagle, while Mattea Penner put away three kills. The Cougars answered with the final four points of the set to tie the match.
 
Misericordia scored the first three points of the third set. Nagle and Jefferys had kills before a block from Teaguen Reynolds and Jefferys evened the score. Olejniczak continued the run to put LVC ahead by one. The Cougars responded with a 5-1 rally. Sofia Okronley tied the set with a pair of service aces. MU scored the next three points before LVC went on a 6-1 run to go up by two. Rios had a pair of kills on setter dumps during the run. The Cougars countered with an 8-2 rally that put them ahead 20-16. Olejniczak scored a pair of points during a 5-2 run for LVC, and Penner had a big block to cut the lead to one. Misericordia scored the next two points to get to set point, and after a Cole kill, they were able to score the final point of the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Cougars used the momentum from taking the lead in the match to score nine of the first 11 points in the fourth set. Penner, Jefferys, and Rios led a furious comeback for the Dutchmen as they were able to cut the lead to 13-10. Misericordia countered with a 7-2 rally to hit 20 points. The Dutchmen fought valiantly to cut into the lead before the Cougars won the set 25-16.
 
Inside the Box

• Rios had another strong match, recording 27 assists, six kills, two aces, and five digs.
• Penner led the team in kills with 12 while recording two solo blocks and eight digs on the defensive end.
• Jefferys finished with 11 kills and two block assists.
• Olejniczak had seven kills while Cole added five with two block assists.
• Nagle recorded a team-high 10 digs, five assists, and one ace.
• Okronley and Levan served up two aces each.
• Reynolds led the Dutchmen with three total blocks on one solo block and two block assists.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will have a rematch against the Cougars next Wednesday, Nov. 12, in the MAC Freedom Semifinals. The top-seeded Cougars will host the fourth-seeded Dutchmen at 7 p.m. inside the Anderson Center on Misericordia's campus in Dallas, Pennsylvania.

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