CHESTER, Pa. (Oct. 27, 2015) – The Widener University volleyball team fell to Lebanon Valley by a 3-0 score on Tuesday evening at the Schwartz Center. Set scores were 25-12, 25-18 and 25-21.
Lebanon Valley improved to 18-9 overall, including 5-2 in Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth play, and clinched the third seed in the league's upcoming tournament with the victory. Widener fell to 13-15 overall, including 3-4 in conference play with the loss, and will have an opportunity to qualify for postseason play when the regular season wraps up on Thursday evening.
The Dutchwomen jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the opening set and scored four unanswered to take a 17-8 advantage on a kill by Greta Weidemoyer. Chloe McCarty clinched the set by recording a kill off an assist from Rachel Moltz.
Widener came out strong in the second half by scoring the first four points, as freshman
Kelsey Lee (Chesapeake, Va.) notched two straight aces before classmates
Nicole Dorman (East Norriton, Pa.) and
Janie Kalinock (Ellicott City, Md.) added kills. The Dutchwomen, however, embarked on an 8-1 run to establish control and never trailed the rest of the way. Kalinock brought the deficit down to three at 19-16 with a kill before Jess Attieh smashed the ball to the ground to clinch the second set for the visitors.
The third set saw the Dutchwomen take a 7-3 lead again for starters. Lebanon Valley led 19-11 later in the set, but the Pride fought back by scoring four points in a row in an attempt to rally to prompt a timeout by the visitors. After Widener made it 22-19 on a kill by Lee, an attacking error followed by a kill from Amber Deshong sealed the match for the Dutchwomen.
Weidemoyer finished with 12 kills while Alli Quirk added 10 and hit at a .500 clip to lead the way for the Dutchwomen. Deshong hit .583 by contributing seven kills and not committing an error over 12 attempts. Moltz had 37 assists, and Allie Garrett finished with 14 digs.
The Pride were led by Dorman,
Sabrina Barbieri (Glen Mills, Pa.) and junior
Lauren Elliott (Aston, Pa.). Dorman had 12 kills and eight digs to fall just shy of a double-double, while Barbieri notched 28 assists and two digs. Elliott finished with 11 digs.
Widener will look to punch its ticket to the Middle Atlantic Conference Tournament when it concludes regular season play at Albright on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. A victory over the Lions would also guarantee the Pride the fourth seed and hosting rights for the play-in game due to its sweep of Alvernia at the Schwartz Center last week.
