Lehigh University
Morgan State
Lehigh drops two in Baltimore
9/2/2009 5:30:00 PM | Volleyball
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BALTIMORE, Md. – After winning their first match of the season Saturday night the Mountain Hawks were not able to keep the momentum going Wednesday. Lehigh fell in both of its matches losing to Morgan State 3-0 and Towson 3-1. The two losses drop Lehigh’s season record to 1-5 overall.
The Bears defeated Lehigh 25-20, 25-14 and 25-22 in their home opener. After falling behind by two sets the Mountain Hawks did not go easy as they battled back in the third set only to fall short by three points.
“We came out flat,” head coach Jenny Maurer said. “We were doing things that were uncharacteristic of us, we weren’t playing our game.”
Lehigh fought tooth and nail with the Tigers, but couldn’t pull out the victory as it were defeated in four sets. The Mountain Hawks were able to take the third set 26-24 after losing the first two 25-17 and 25-21. Heading into the fourth set Lehigh had the momentum and was able to build a late lead of 23-20, but the Tigers came back to win 26-24.
Even though the Mountain Hawks came out on the wrong side of the match, Maurer was very pleased at how the team was able to bounce back against Towson.
“They were very disappointed heading into the Towson match,” Maurer said. “Towson is a very tough team and they have the quickest middles we have seen all season. We started off slow, but by the end of the match we were right in it."
Senior captain Mo McReynolds led Lehigh with 10 kills and a .304 hitting percentage. Also contributing in the attack was sophomore Chelsea Sheridan who recorded eight kills and an impressive .400 hitting percentage. Other standouts for the Mountain Hawks were Brittany Dickinson with 13 assists and Jessica Kudirka with 12. Defensively Emma Melendez had a team-high 14 digs.
McReynolds continued her great night against the Tigers with a match-high 13 kills. Sheridan added 10 kills offensively and setting up both of the players was Dickinson who had a match-high 30 assists. Sophomore Angelika Kopacz had a match-high 17 digs followed by Melendez with 14.
It is still early on in the season and the Mountain Hawks have a lot of encouraging signs after the first six matches of the year.
“The Towson match proved that we’re learning to make adjustments,” Maurer said. “It is still early on in the season and we’re learning how to put all the pieces together and finish. A great sign is that we have people stepping up at different times. We may not have one go to person, but we can get contributions from everyone.”
Lehigh volleyball now has five days off before its home opener on September 8th. The Mountain Hawks will take on St Francis (N.Y.) at 7:00 p.m. You can catch live action of the game at Lehighsports.com.
