OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Stevenson University women's volleyball team is moving onto the Middle Atlantic Conference championship, as the Mustangs (22-6) defeated Messiah (21-8) 3-1 on Wednesday night.
 
The Mustangs will head to top-seeded Eastern on Saturday for a 2 p.m. first serve. The winner receives the MAC's auto-bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
Back to Wednesday's match, the Mustangs – who defeated Messiah 3-1 back in September – wo by set scores of 27-25, 14-25, 25-18 and 25-23.
 
Darian Dildy led the way with 15 kills and four blocks, while Rileigh Kimball had 13 kills.
 
Kayla Vaeth had 26 digs defensively, with Kylie DesLauriers netting 22 digs and five aces. Kimball also had 13 digs on the night.
 
Makala Thompson had 26 assists with Samantha Simmers getting 14.
 
Stevenson trailed in the first set 18-9, before rallying to withing three at 18-15 as five errors, along with a kill from Dildy closed the gap. Trailing again 22-18, Messiah errors allowed the Mustangs to get back within two.
 
Facing set point, Stevenson got a kill from Dildy to make it 25-25, then a service ace from Thompson for a 26-25 edge. An attack error by the Falcons gave the Mustangs the first set.
 
Messiah took a 12-1 lead in the second set and never looked back, as the Mustangs could only get within seven.
 
In the third set, Stevenson led most of the way and fended off a late Messiah charge, as the Falcons got within five at 20-15.
 
In the final set, Messiah had the lead before Stevenson took the lead at 16-15 on a kill by Dildy. With the score knotted at 20-all, an ace by Summers gave the Mustangs a 21-20 lead. Giulia Viglietta had the match-winning kill for the final margin of 25-23.
 
Eastern defeated Stevenson 3-2 back in mid-October, a match that Stevenson led 2-0. This will be the third straight time the two schools have met in the Commonwealth final. Stevenson has appeared in every Commonwealth final since 2012.