Hoboken, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team advanced to a fifth straight MAC Freedom Tournament Championship match with a four-set victory (20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-14) over Lebanon Valley College in the semifinals Wednesday night from Canavan Arena.
Stevens improved to 26-6 for the season; Lebanon Valley dropped to 15-13.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lebanon Valley took a 6-0 lead in the opening set, forcing a Stevens timeout. The Dutchmen added another before the Ducks finally got on the board with a
Parker Adkins kill. Stevens eventually worked its way back to within a point at 11-10 and 12-11, finally taking their first lead of the set at 14-13; Adkins had three more kills for the Ducks during the early rally.
The teams traded the next 14 points back and forth, with neither side holding a lead of more than a single point until Lebanon Valley reeled off three in a row turning q 20-19 deficit into a 22-20 lead, forcing another Stevens timeout; the teams had been tied at 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20-all. The Dutchmen run continued out of the timeout, with the visitors reeling off three more in a row to snag the first set.
Stevens again had to fight hard for the lead in the second set, working its way back from four separate two-point holes before finally taking a 10-9 lead; Shannon and
Sarah Bolduc each had a pair of kills for those first 10 points. Back-to-back service aces for
Ella Kraver put the Ducks up three and drew the first timeout of the night from Lebanon Valley.
The Dutchmen came out of the timeout with three in a row to tie the set at 12-12, but Stevens answered right back with three straight of its own. Adkins,
Vivian Lisboa, Bolduc, and
Elle Maggio all recorded a kill apiece as the Ducks opened a 21-16 lead, drawing the second timeout of the set for Lebanon Valley. Stevens closed the set and leveled the match following a Dutchmen attack error, a Bolduc ace, and a kill each for
Meg Dion and Adkins.; the Ducks hit .370 in the set after a .088 mark in the first.
Lisboa scored Stevens' first three points of the third with a pair of kills and a service ace, putting the regular season champions up 3-1. Lebanon Valley flipped the lead with four of the next five, but Stevens flipped it back with five of the next seven for an 8-7 edge. After 8-8, 9-9, and 10-10 ties, kills by Adkins and Bolduc sandwiched around a Lebanon Valley attack error put the Ducks up three, coercing a timeout from the Dutchmen.
The seesaw set continued off the resumption, with Lebanon Valley grabbing leads at 15-14 and 16-15, Stevens taking 17-16 and 18-17 advantages, and the two sides again tying at every interval 13 through 20. Three straight from Stevens produced another Lebanon Valley timeout, which only briefly delayed the Ducks run as a Lisboa/Shannon combined block and Lisboa kill put the Ducks up 2-1.
The two sides took three combined timeouts early in a fourth set that started 5-2 in favor of the Ducks,
Bailey Axelrad recording a service ace and Lisboa adding a kill and ace of her own. After the Dutchmen reeled off three in a row to tie,
Macon Frey took the first timeout of the frame.
The Ducks responded with five of the next six points, compelling a timeout from the Dutchmen; Bolduc had a pair of kills between the stoppages. After a second Lebanon Valley timeout just three points later (12-7), Stevens eventually opened a 19-10 lead, and maintained at least a six-point edge the rest of the way, closing out the set (and the win) with the final five points of the night,
Elle Maggio putting the finishing touch on the victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Stevens has dropped just six sets total during its nine-game MAC Freedom Tournament win streak
- After recording just one block against Lebanon Valley during the regular season, the Ducks had 12 on Wednesday night.
- Lebanon Valley hit .251 in the regular season matchup; Stevens held them to a .087 mark Wednesday night.
- Lebanon Valley's Taylor McInerney and Mattea Penner combined for 41 kills during the regular season matchup; the Ducks' defense limited them to just 20 Wednesday night.
- Molly Harris surpassed 1,100 assists for the season, finishing with 27.
- Stevens had 63 digs as a team, pushing its season total to 1,994.
FROM THE COURT (Head Coach Macon Frey)
"I thought our team did a great job tonight of competing for every point. We tried new routes offensively and continued to mix things up throughout the match. I am super proud of our whole team and the way we came together to get the win!"
UP NEXT
The Ducks quest for a fifth straight MAC Freedom Championship culminates Saturday at Canavan against the three-seed Misericordia, who swept two-seed DeSales Wednesday night. Start time for the match is 1 pm.
