Lehigh swept by No. 12 Tennessee

Saturday, September 9

Pittsburgh, Pa.

05:00 PM

Lehigh University

Tennessee

9/9/2006 6:45:00 PM | Volleyball

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks lost their final match of the Pitt Invitational on Saturday afternoon to No. 12 Tennessee Lady Volunteers 3-0 at Fitzgerald Field House. Game scores were 30-27, 30-15 and 30-11. With the win, the Lady Vols won the Pitt Invitational, posting a perfect 3-0 record. Lehigh now drops to 0-10 on the season while Tennessee improves to 8-1.

Lehigh put up a tough fight in the first game that included the Mountain Hawks tying the Lady Vols several times and leading at multiple points. With Tennessee only one point away from game point, the Mountain Hawks started to make a comeback. However, that comeback came to a quick end.

“It was a close game,” said head coach Amanda Moran. “It could have easily gone either way.”

The Mountain Hawks ended the first game with a .231 hitting percentage, which was their best hitting percentage for a game during the tournament.

Although Tennessee dominated the scoring throughout the second and third games, Moran was impressed with how her team played.

“The team was competitive for most of the match, point-for-point,” said Moran. “At one time we had four or five freshmen on the court. We just played amazingly.”

Lehigh came up with a total of 37 digs during the match, which was one less than Tennessee. Senior Michelle Schwendenmann led the team with seven kills while freshman Sarah Wolfe anchored the offense with 15 assists. Senior Cassidy Maumus led the defensive effort with 11 digs. Maumus’ efforts throughout the entire weekend also earned her an all-tournament selection.

Tennessee’s Milan Clarke had a match-high 13 kills while teammate Kylie Marshall came up with a match-high 11 digs.

Earlier today, the Mountain Hawks lost to host Pittsburgh 3-0. In that match, Schwendenmann led the team with 14 kills while Wolfe recorded 10 digs.

Throughout the tournament, the Mountain Hawks faced stiff competition that included 2005 Conference USA champion Marshall, Big East foe Pittsburgh and nationally-ranked Tennessee. Although Lehigh did not win a game, Moran saw that her team improved and even shocked a couple of people at the tournament.

“We surprised quite a few people on the other side of the net,” said Moran. “We showed that we were competitive. It really does show just how competitive we were when the other coaches we coming up to say just how much potential we have.”

Continue Moran, “We played some very competitive teams this weekend. We definitely matured mentally and physically. The competition in this tournament would either make you or break you. In our case, it made us.”

Lehigh travels to Penn State next weekend to participate in the Penn State Classic. The Mountain Hawks’ first match will be on Friday, September 15 against Miami (Ohio) at 5:00 pm.

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