MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The Lebanon Valley volleyball team earned a split against two regional opponents at the Panzer Athletic Center on the campus of Montclair State University on Saturday afternoon in Montclair. LVC began the afternoon with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-12) sweep of Baruch College before dropping a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) defeat to undefeated Montclair State.
 
Match vs. Baruch
The Bearcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of service aces to begin the match. LVC (2-3) answered right back with the next three points as Mattea Penner gave the Dutchmen the lead on an ace. The teams battled back and forth early on as Baruch tied the set up at five. Riley Mack had back-to-back points, and then a bad set pushed the advantage to three points. After a pair of points for the Bearcats, the Dutchmen scored six consecutive points to double up Baruch at 14-7. The Dutchmen kept the momentum going as Lyla Arfanella recorded back-to-back aces to push the lead to eight. Baruch used a 4-1 rally over the next five points to cut the advantage to 18-13. The teams traded points until it was 22-17. LVC closed out the set with three consecutive points, ending with Penner putting away a feed from Okronley.
 
Teaguen Reynolds started off the second set with a point as the Dutchmen scored four of the first six to take an early 4-2 advantage. Baruch was able to tie the score at six before LVC used a 4-0 run to put some more space between the teams. Jillian Jefferys started the run, Sofia Rios had an ace, and Jasmine Sullivan ended the run with a point. The Dutchmen slowly started the extend the lead as Libby Lindau and Penner recorded points to make it 14-8. The Dutchmen nearly ended the set with a 9-2 run. The Bearcats fought back with a 5-1 run to stay alive before Mack ended the set with a point off an assist by Sullivan.
 
The Bearcats scored four of the first six points in the third set. LVC answered with two points from Lindau to even things up. Baruch retook the lead at 6-4 before seven straight points by the Dutchmen opened a sizeable advantage. Mack had two service aces during the run while Penner recorded two points. The Bearcats stopped the run with a point, but LVC kept the pressure on and scored nine of the next 11 points to reach 20 points. LVC continued the strong play to close out the set and win the match with a second consecutive sweep.
 
Inside the Box

• Penner finished with a match-high 10 kills. This is the second time this year she has reached double figures in kills. She also had two service aces and a match-high eight digs.
• Okronley had 20 assists and seven digs. Sullivan added 10 assists, one kill, and one dig.
• Mack recorded a season-high nine kills and a career-high three service aces.
• Jefferys had six kills while Lindau tallied five.
• Arfanella finished with six digs, two aces, and two assists.
• The Dutchmen hit a season-high .217 and recorded nine aces.
• LVC improved to 3-0 all-time against Baruch in the first meeting since 2013.

Match vs. Montclair State
The Dutchmen (2-4) battled tough against the host Red Hawks (6-0), who were receiving votes in this week's AVCA Poll after a historic start to their season with all six matches being played on their home court. Montclair scored the first nine points before Penner got the Dutchmen on the board. The Red Hawks added to the lead, scoring seven of the next nine points with Mack and Jefferys getting points off assists from Okronley. The Dutchmen fought back and used an 8-4 run to cut the deficit to 20-11 behind strong plays by Mack and Penner. The Red Hawks scored five of the next eight points to close out the set and take a 1-0 lead.
 
Montclair began the second set with four consecutive points before the Dutchmen used a 6-2 run to tie things up at six. Jefferys and Mack had two points each during the run. The teams traded points until Jefferys gave LVC its first lead of the match at 10-9 with her third point of the set. MSU responded with seven of the next nine points to retake the lead. The Red Hawks kept the momentum going and were able to build the advantage up to 20-13. LVC got within four behind four consecutive points ending on a Rios ace. Montclair State answered with the next four points and was able to take the second set.
 
The third set was a battle all the way through, starting with a Jefferys point to kick things off. The hosts scored four of the next five and eight of the first 11 points in the set to go up by five. LVC countered with an 8-4 run to get within one at 12-11. After an MSU point, Jefferys had a pair of points to tie things up. The Hawks were able to reclaim a 17-15 advantage. Sullivan and Penner recorded points before Sullivan gave the Dutchmen the lead with an ace. The hosts responded with a 6-1 run to go up 23-19. The teams traded the next four points to end the match.
 
Inside the Box

• Jefferys finished with a match and career-high 12 kills and two block assists.
• Penner added eight more kills to give her 18 on the day. She also had four digs and an ace.
• Mack also had eight kills, five digs, one assist, and a service ace.
• Okronley finished with another 20 assists to give her 118 on the season. She has recorded at least 20 assists in each of the past four matches.
• Sullivan had six assists, one kill, one ace, and three digs.
• Arfanella led the team with seven digs and added three assists.

Up Next
Lebanon Valley will play its home opener on Wednesday, Sept. 10, as the Dutchmen welcome Elizabethtown College to Sorrentino Gymnasium for a 7 p.m. start.

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