OWINGS MILLS, MD – The York College volleyball squad saw their first Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to Stevenson in the tournament semifinals on Wednesday night.
The Mustangs advance to face the top seeded Eastern University Eagles for the 2021 Commonwealth championship on Saturday. Eastern outlasted Messiah 3-2 in the other conference semifinal match.
 
Scores: York 1, Stevenson 3 (25-27, 25-13, 25-20, 25-10)
Records: York 17-10; Stevenson 26-5
 
How It Happened
• The opening points of the match were back and forth before the Spartans used a 5-1 run to take a 13-8 first set lead. York pushed the lead to 16-10 before Stevenson battled back to draw to within two at 21-19. York was up 24-21 on a Tyler Williams kill as they looked poised to put away game one. Stevenson ripped off three straight points to tie the set at 24. A service error put York up one only to have the Mustangs tie the set at 25 on a Sarah Straub kill. York got kills from Megan Rizzi and Claire Shorb to secure the 27-25 set one win.
• The Mustangs got off to a good start in the second set as they led 7-4. The Mustangs scored six of the next eight points to push out to a 13-6 lead. Stevenson continued to pour it on as the scored seven of the next 10 points to take a 20-9 lead before they cruised to a 25-13 second set win.
• The third set saw York jump out to a 7-4 lead. Stevenson responded with a 9-2 run to take a 13-9 lead. York cut the Mustang lead to 14-13 but that would be as close as York got the rest of the set as Stevenson won set three 25-20.
• Set four was all Mustangs as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. York scored four straight points to make it 5-4 but Stevenson won 14 of the next 16 points to forge a 19-6 lead. They would go on to win the set 25-10 and the match three games to one.
 
Spartan Leaders
Megan Rizzi: 14 kills, 1 assist, 2 service aces, 16 digs
Tyler Williams: 10 kills, 1 service ace, 14 digs
Claire Shorb: 9 kills, 4 digs
Alyssa Mott: 31 assists, 2 kills, 3 service aces, 1 block assist, 7 digs
Jasmine Doguin: 14 digs, 2 assists, 1 service ace
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans fall to 8-14 all-time against the Mustangs as Stevenson has won three straight in the series … York is now 1-3 against Stevenson in conference tournament games … the match closes out the careers of Spartan seniors Tyler Williams and Jae Fitch … York is now 21-23 all-time in conference tournament action … the Spartans' 17 wins are the most since the 2018 team captured 20 wins … the Spartans hit .079 for the match, their third lowest attack percentage of the year … York was credited with just two blocks, their second-lowest total of the year … York had 11 service errors and that's the 21^st time this year that York had double figures in service errors.
 
Up Next
The Spartans will return to action in early September of 2022. Head coach Dan Mickle is slated to return his entire team with the exception of Tyler Williams and Jae Fitch. The Spartans should be well represented on the All-MAC Commonwealth teams which will get released next week.