HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team wrapped up play at the Haverford Tournament on Saturday with a pair of matches against Stockton University and Union College. The Dutchmen dropped the first match of the day 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-8) to Stockton and then battled Union tough in a close 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 19-25, 25-21) defeat to close out the weekend.
 
Match vs. Stockton
LVC (0-2) struggled to get the offense going against the Ospreys (2-0) and Stockton took full advantage jumping out to big leads in each set. The Ospreys scored the first five points of the match before LVC called a timeout. Mattea Penner and Libby Lindau had back-to-back points out of the break to cut the lead down to three. Stockton responded with five of the next seven points to build a 10-4 advantage. Margaret Cole had a pair of points and Penner added another point in a 3-1 run that got the deficit down to four. The Ospreys countered with a 10-2 run to extend the lead to 21-9. Lindau and Riley Mack had a point each over the next six rallies, but Stockton was able to close out the set.
 
Lindau started the second set with a point to put the Dutchmen up. Stockton scored the next four points. The Dutchmen scored the next two points to get within one, but Stockton responded with four consecutive points. LVC answered with a 5-3 run to get the deficit down to 11-8 but Stockton won 13 of the next 15 rallies to take a commanding lead in the set. Brooke Olejniczak kept the set alive for the Dutchmen with her second point of the set, but the Ospreys were able to get the point they needed to take a 2-0 lead on the next serve to win the set.
 
The third set began with Stockton winning 10 of the first 12 points. LVC called a timeout and scored the next two points out of the break starting with a point by Jillian Jefferys. The Dutchmen battled back and were able to get within five points at 12-7 after a point by Jasmine Sullivan. That was as close as LVC would get as Stockton won 13 of the next 14 rallies to take the set and the match.
 
Inside the Box

• Lindau led the Dutchmen in kills for the second consecutive match to begin the year with four. She also had a block assist to give her a team-high 4.5 points in the match.
• Penner had three kills and a dig for three points.
• Cole and Olejniczak added two kills each.
• Sofia Okronley led the team with eight assists while Sullivan had five. Okronley also led the team in digs with four.
• Sofia Rios added a team-high four digs.

Match vs. Union
The Dutchmen (0-3) played the Garnet Chargers (1-2) close as the offense started to get things going with a weekend-best .165 hitting percentage in the match. After Union won the first three points, LVC responded with the next seven to take the lead. Four different Dutchmen had points in the run led by Jefferys with two, including the go-ahead point. Jefferys added two more points, but Union scored on eight on the next 10 rallies to go back ahead by a score of 11-9. The teams traded points as LVC was able to get a trio of kills by Cole to bring the score to 16-15. Union scored four of the next five points to get to 20 first. LVC fought back and cut the deficit to 22-19 after a point from Lindau. The Chargers scored the next two points before a service error on set point. The Dutchmen stayed alive as Cole and Jefferys blocked an attack before Union got the point they needed to win the set.
 
Jefferys continued her strong play to begin the second set with the first point. After a pair of Union points, Cole and Jefferys recorded another block assist and Penner served up an ace to give LVC back the lead. Union used a 10-3 run to go up 12-6. Penner stopped a streak of five consecutive points by the Chargers with a point and had three straight points for the Dutchmen to help LVC get the advantage back to five points. Union scored eight of the next 10 points in the set to get within two points of taking the set. The Dutchmen won the next three points including a big block assist from Lindau and Okronley before Union was able to close out the set to go up 2-0.
 
The Dutchmen started to gain a little momentum in the third set as they won six of the first eight points. Laylah Chesnut had her first career service ace on her first career serve during the rally. The squad continued the strong play and doubled up the Chargers at 10-5 following back-to-back points by Riley Mack and Penner. Union scored the next four points to get within one, but LVC responded with four straight points of their own and five of six points to keep a five-point cushion. Penner and Cole had two points each while Kylie Nagle served up an ace during the run. Okronley pushed the lead to six with an ace before Union closed the gap with a 6-3 rally to get within three. Lindau gave the Dutchmen 20 points in the set before Mack had another ace to get the lead back up to five. The Dutchmen got to set point on points by Mack, Penner, and another ace from Nagle. Union was able to score three points as well, but a service error gave LVC its first set win of the year.
 
The Garnet Chargers won the first two points of the fourth set, but LVC came right back with a pair of points by Cole and Jefferys before another block assist by the duo gave the Dutchmen the lead. Union answered with three points to retake the lead. Chestnut evened the set up at five with her second ace. The offense built off the momentum and scored six consecutive points to take an 11-6 advantage. The Dutchmen were slowly able to get the lead up to six at 16-10 following a Cole point. Union responded with the next eight points to go up by two. The advantage extended to 21-17 before Lindau had three points to keep the Dutchmen within three. Nagle served up another ace to get the Dutchmen within two at 23-21 before the Chargers were able to close out the set with the final two points.
 
Inside the Box

• Jefferys recorded a career-high 13.5 points on a career-high 10 kills and a career-high seven block assists.
• Penner led the team with a season-high 13 kills and 13 digs. She also recorded one ace.
• Cole had a season-high six block assists and eight kills for 11.0 points. She now has 145 total blocks in her career.
• Lindau finished with six kills and four total blocks on one solo block and three block assists.
• Mack also had six kills and recorded a career-high seven digs.
• Okronley recorded a career-high 37 assists, 10 digs, one block assist, one ace, and one kill.
• Nagle had five assists and three aces with 14 digs.
• The Dutchmen had a season-high 10 total blocks and a season-high nine aces.

Up Next
Lebanon Valley will return to action on Tuesday Sept. 2 with a road trip south to Maryland where they will face MAC Commonwealth foe Hood College. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Ronald J. Volpe Athletic Center in Frederick, Maryland.

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