Lehigh drops 3-0 final to American in Patriot League Semifinals

Saturday, November 23

Washington, D.C.

2:00 PM

Lehigh University

20-9, 11-5

American University

31-2, 15-1

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Lehigh	21	21	14	0
American	25	25	25	3

Lehigh drops 3-0 final to American in Patriot League Semifinals

11/23/2013 5:48:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The Lehigh volleyball team put forth a strong effort against top-seeded American but the Eagles proved too much, winning 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-14) on Saturday afternoon. With the win, American advances to Sunday's Patriot League Championship match while the Mountain Hawks see their season end with a 20-9 record, reaching 20 wins for the first time since 2002.

"I thought our effort was really good. I thought our team played very well, especially in the first two games," said Lehigh head coach Bob Bertucci. "We were actually beating them in the first game, but it slipped away from us over the last few points. We had some great performances from our outside hitters and defensive performers off the bench. American is very good and played very well. They passed really well and played very good defense."

Junior Jade Van Streepen posted a team-high 13 kills on the afternoon while senior Rachel Charles had 14 digs and senior Courtney McCutchan and sophomore Claire Bradshaw had 11 apiece. Sophomore Amy Matula finished with 29 assists.

"We came in here very well prepared," said Bertucci. "For the most part, we executed well, but so did American. We don't match up too well against them. They were pretty strong at the net and we had a hard time dealing with them."

The teams exchanged points during the beginning of the first set with the score being tied six times before it was knotted at eight. Lehigh used a 5-2 run to gain a 13-10 advantage before American was able to fight back and tie the score again at 15. Back-and-forth action resulted in two more knotted scores until it was 21 all. The Eagles converted four straight points, capped off with a kill from Krystyna Lindovska, to surge ahead and claim a 25-21 set victory and 1-0 match advantage.

Back-and-forth action ensued once again in the second set with the score sitting at eight apiece until American went on a 4-1 run to take a 12-9 lead. Lehigh fought back to knot the score at 12. The Eagles responded with three straight kills before Van Streepen gave a point back to Lehigh with a kill of her own. Three more American kills put the Eagles ahead 18-13 and forced a Mountain Hawk timeout. The Eagles extended their lead to 22-16 but Lehigh fought back with kills from McCutchan and junior Kaylynn Genemaras to string together three straight points and trim the American lead to 22-19. The early deficit proved too much for the Mountain Hawks as American claimed another 25-21 set win and 2-0 match advantage.

American jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set, extending it to 12-6 after a kill from Monika Smidova. Lehigh responded with two straight points behind a Genemaras kill and American attack error, but the Eagles captured seven of the next nine points to take a 19-10 lead and erase any doubt. A kill and attack error gave American the 25-14 third-set victory for the 3-0 match win.

"The seniors have helped turn this whole program around," said Bertucci. "They were just finishing their freshman year when I came in. They worked hard to improve their level of play. I feel like this is the best team that we've had (since I got here). We're moving in the right direction; it'll just take us some time.

American finished with a .313 attack percentage while Lehigh's was .129.

"You've got to make sure next year you don't draw [American] in the first game," said Bertucci. "It could be completely different playing them a day later."

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