Lehigh beats Army for first time since 2003 on Senior Day

Saturday, October 26

4:00 PM

Lehigh University

17-6, 8-3PL

Army

12-9, 9-2PL

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Army	20	26	23	25	13	2
Lehigh	25	24	25	23	15	3

Lehigh beats Army for first time since 2003 on Senior Day

10/26/2013 7:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team defeated first-place Army, 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13), on Senior Day inside Leeman-Turner Arena on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks captured their fourth straight victory and first win over Army since Nov. 8, 2003. Lehigh halted Army's seven-game win streak, and 21-match streak over the Mountain Hawks, to claim their eighth league victory of the season.

"This is the first time our seniors have ever won against Army so it was very big for them," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "It was also big for us as a whole because that was the first-place team in the league. This win should give us some confidence that we can beat anybody."

The teams exchanged points at the beginning of the first set, eventually finding themselves tied at four. A 5-2 Mountain Hawk run put Lehigh ahead, 10-6. The Black Knights grabbed a few points back to tie the set at 13, but kills from three different Mountain Hawks pulled together four straight points to put Lehigh back on top, 17-13. The Black Knights could never recover as an Army attack error eventually put the set away and Lehigh claimed a 25-20 win. Lehigh tallied 17 kills in the set, despite hitting just .200.

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Kills from sophomore Amy Matula and senior Amanda Clark gave Lehigh a quick jump in the second set, putting the Mountain Hawks ahead 4-0. The Mountain Hawks remained in the lead until Army was able to slowly battle back to tie the set at 22. The Black Knights benefitted from four Mountain Hawks attack errors to win the second set, 26-24, and tie the match at one apiece.

The Mountain Hawks got out to a hot start again in the third set, taking a 10-6 lead. The Black Knights were able to battle back with the help of two kills from Kerry Hornan to trim the Lehigh lead to 11-10. The Mountain Hawks returned with a run of their own, scoring four straight points off kills from junior Jade Van Streepen and sophomore Ana Vrhel. The teams tightly battled back and forth until the score was tied at 23. Kills from Clark and Vrhel closed out the set as Lehigh claimed a 25-23 victory and 2-1 match advantage. Through the first three sets, Vrhel recorded 12 kills without making a single error to accumulate a .632 hitting percentage.

The Black Knights led right from the start in the fourth set, jumping out to an 11-8 lead. The Mountain Hawks tied the set at 11 on three straight points, before eventually taking a 15-13 lead. Five kills from Army's Nicole Perry helped reclaim the lead for the Black Knights, 20-15. The Mountain Hawks tried to battle back, but their effort wasn't enough as Army captured the fourth set 25-23 to send the match into a deciding set.

The fifth set was the toughest battle of them all, seeing eight tie scores and five lead changes. The Mountain Hawks were down 8-7 at the halfway point, but eventually tied the set at 11. A kill from Matula and an Army attack error gave Lehigh the 13-11 advantage until a Mountain Hawk attack error slimmed the lead, 13-12. Another sneaky kill from Matula and one from Army's Olivia Fairfield put the scoreboard at 14-13 before a spike from Vrhel gave Lehigh the 15-13 set five victory and 3-2 match win.

Vrhel tallied a career-high 17 kills with just two errors to record a .469 hitting percentage, while also stuffing two solo blocks. Clark helped the blocking game as well by notching six total and also touching down 12 kills. Matula shined with a pair of career highs in her 54 assists and ten kills. Senior Rachel Charles led the way with 22 digs.

"This is an indescribable feeling," said Charles. "There was so much intensity and we knew that we needed to stay calm and focus on what we were doing. My teammates did a great job at bringing their best."

Lehigh hits the road next weekend, making stops in Annapolis and Baltimore. The Mountain Hawks face Navy at 7 p.m. on Friday and Loyola at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

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