Lehigh University
Fairleigh Dickinson
Mountain Hawks drop home opener
9/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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“Our serves just killed us,” said head coach Amanda Moran. “This past weekend, we did a tremendous job at serving. We have been trying to teach the team to serve aggressively. Tonight, they were just over-aggressive.”
After trailing Fairleigh Dickinson for the entire first game, the Mountain Hawks took control of the second and third games right at the start. Lehigh had six-consecutive points in the beginning of the second game to carry a 7-1 lead over the Knights. The Mountain Hawks remained in the lead until Fairleigh Dickinson's Megan Philbrick tied the game 19-19. Fairleigh Dickinson then took the lead for the first time off an attack error by sophomore Tory Marion.
The third game was a close battle between the teams as neither team really had much room for error. Lehigh led the game until Fairleigh Dickinson tied the game 11-11. The Knights tried to pull away from the Mountain Hawks, but Lehigh was able to tie the game at 13-13. A kill by freshman Brittany Thurston gave Lehigh the 14-13 lead. However, the Knights came back to tie the game 14-14 and went on to take the lead for a final time.
Lehigh senior Michelle Schwendenmann had a team-best 12 kills while freshman Sarah Wolfe come up with a team-high 13 digs. The team also put together an impressive .297 hitting percentage in the first game.
Leading the way offensively for the Knights was Elena Schmidt with 14 kills. Ruth Levy led the game with 17 digs.
Although the team is still searching for its first win, Moran noted that the team has improved since the start of the season.
“The effort is there,” she said. “We have been improving. We had a positive hitting percentage tonight and met three out of our four goals that we set for tonight’s game.”
The Mountain Hawks return to action this weekend when they participate in the Pittsburgh Invitational. Their first game will be on Friday at 4:30pm against
