Lehigh grabs 3-2 comeback victory at Lafayette

Friday, October 18

Easton, PA

7:00 PM

Lehigh University

9-10, 1-7PL

Lafayette

14-6, 6-3PL

Lehigh

Lafayette

Lehigh grabs 3-2 comeback victory at Lafayette

10/18/2013 9:36:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

| Lehigh-Lafayette Rivalry

EASTON, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team rallied to nab a 3-2 comeback victory over archrival Lafayette on Friday night. The Mountain Hawks were down 2-1 before claiming a dominant 25-3 set four victory to pull even before winning the fifth set. The victory gave Lehigh its ninth straight over Lafayette as the programs' four senior will graduate without ever having lost to the Leopards. Senior Rachel Charles impressed with a season-high 31 digs while tying her career high of six service aces.

"The pressure of the game got to the girls at a point but in the fourth set they came out to play," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "Once they came to play, they really turned it on. It shows a lot of character that the team was able to come back like that."

The Mountain Hawks got out to a quick 9-6 lead over the Lafayette in the first set before the Leopards clawed their way back to tie it at nine all. The teams exchanged points and after three tie scores, Lehigh was able to pull away to take a 16-12 advantage. Lehigh closed out the set on a run of seven straight points with the help of three consecutive service aces from junior Jade Van Streepen to take a 25-15 victory. The Mountain Hawks limited the Leopards to a dismal .029 hitting percentage in the opening set.

The Leopards came out fighting in set two and accumulated a quick 13-3 lead. The lead proved to be too much for the Mountain Hawks to overcome, as Lafayette took the set 25-15 to even the match up at one set apiece.

Lafayette kept its momentum in the third set, opening the frame up with an 8-3 lead. The Mountain Hawks slowly worked their way back in the game with the help of a 10-3 run to eventually take a 17-16 lead. The teams were tied at 18 before three straight points put Lafayette ahead 21-18. After the Mountain Hawks nabbed one more point, two kills and a service ace from Lafayette's Karissa Ciliento gave the Leopards a 25-19 set victory and 2-1 match advantage.

The Mountain Hawks quickly got out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set and never let up. Lehigh continued to dominate the set, only letting the Leopards get two more points. The Mountain Hawks scored 17 unanswered points to close out the frame 25-3. Charles served up three straight aces, while junior Kaylynn Genemaras dished five kills to lead the Mountain Hawks to a .359 fourth set hitting percentage.

The fifth and deciding set opened with an exchange of 2-0 runs as the teams found themselves tied at 7. A bad set from Lafayette gave the Mountain Hawks an 8-7 advantage as the teams switched sides of the court. Following the switch, Lehigh stormed off on a 4-0 run thanks to a Charles ace and Genemaras kill to give the Mountain Hawks a 12-7 lead. The Leopards fought back with a 3-1 lead to cut Lehigh's lead to 13-10. The Leopards grabbed one more point before two straight attack errors gave the Mountain Hawks the 15-11 set five win and 3-2 match victory.

Besides Charles' impressive performance, many other Mountain Hawks stepped up to lift the Mountain Hawks over the Leopards. Van Streepen tallied her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 12 digs, as well as four service aces of her own. Genemaras notched ten kills and sophomore Amy Matula served up 31 assists.

"Rachel was determined," said Bertucci. "She was going to win that game if she had to do it by herself. Her determination really brought the other girls back into the match."

The Mountain Hawks return to action in less than 24 hours when they will host NJIT on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Leeman-Turner Arena. The match will be Lehigh's Dig Pink Game and all fans are encouraged to wear pink.

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