Volleyball
Commonwealth Conference Championship
Lebanon Valley 3, Messiah 0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-23)

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GRANTHAM, Pa. - Lebanon Valley won its fourth straight Commonwealth Conference title Saturday, reversing its regular-season fortune against Messiah in a gritty 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-23) win.

The Dutchmen earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The pairings will be announced at 11 a.m. on Monday on NCAA.com.

Tournament most valuable player Jamie Hawk led LVC with 11 kills and four blocks as she and teammates Angela Kuperavage and Nicole Barra became the first senior class in school history - in any sport - to graduate as four-time conference champions.

"There's nobody else I'd rather do this with," Hawk said. "They're amazing people and amazing players and I've enjoyed every second that I've gotten to play with them."

LVC had lost to Messiah 3-1 in the regular season, but came back late in the first set before holding off the Falcons to earn the sweep.

"I'm so happy for them. They got the grand slam. I feel good, but I'm so happy for them," said head coach Wayne Perry, who won his 499th career match. "Coming off of three years of winning with a core of five players who just graduated, this team, we made so many adjustments through the year and they adjusted every time to win. It's such a great feeling."

The Dutchmen, outblocked and hitting poorly all match, got it done defensively led by Angela Kuperavage's 25 digs and big nights from Kacey Musselman (12 digs) and Kellsie Groff (11 digs). Musselman had a terrific all-around match with 24 assists and four kills.

LVC had to rally from a big deficit in the opening set down 22-18, taking advantage of a Falcon service error to let Groff go on a three-point serving run to tie the set at 22-22. After a timeout, Falcon kills by Barbara Fretz and Lauren Rees put LVC on the ropes at 24-22, but a Rees error made it 24-23, and Sasha Birosik served out as two more Rees errors around a dump by Musselman gave LVC a 26-24 comeback.

The second set was tight until the end, with the teams tied at 20-20 until LVC again took advantage of Messiah mistakes. A bad set by Jessica Geib put LVC up and Hawk's kill made it 22-20; an error and another bad set put it away for LVC on the way to a 25-21 win.

LVC trailed again in the third, down 11-7 early on before a rally tied it at 15-15, part of a larger 11-4 run that saw the Dutchmen flip the score from down 14-11 to up 22-18. A kill by Krystal Wirey took them to match point at 24-20, but Messiah wouldn't quit with three straight points to force a timeout at 24-23. Out of the break, LVC made no mistake and Hawk hit a perfect slide for the championship-sealing kill.