Mountain Hawks down Crusaders in straight sets

Saturday, September 21

Worcester, MA

2:00 PM

Lehigh University

10-4, 2-1PL

Holy Cross

6-6, 1-1PL

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Lehigh	28	25	25	3
Holy Cross	26	21	17	0

Mountain Hawks down Crusaders in straight sets

9/21/2013 4:13:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Lehigh volleyball team defeated Holy Cross 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-17) on Saturday afternoon to claim its 11th straight win over the Crusaders. The Mountain Hawks are now 10-4 on the season and 2-1 in Patriot League play.

"It was great to win in three," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "It was tough to come back so quickly after our match at Army last night, so I give the team a lot of credit for being able to do that. Holy Cross is a much improved team since last year. They played us really closely, especially in the first two games. It will be nice to get back home next weekend after our first road trip of the season."

The teams exchanged points during the first set as neither team could take a decisive lead and they found themselves tied at 18. The Mountain Hawks surged ahead by three points, but the Crusaders answered right back with five straight points of their own to take a 24-21 lead and force a Lehigh timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Mountain Hawks recorded a kill and a block along with a Holy Cross attacking error to even it up once again at 24 apiece. Thanks to three Holy Cross errors and a kill from Lehigh senior Amanda Clark, the Mountain Hawks were finally able to surge ahead and take a 28-26 set one victory.

Lehigh jumped out to an early 12-7 lead in the second set. The Mountain Hawks remained in control as they led by as much as six points at the 20-14 mark. The Crusaders attempted to rally, but Lehigh was able to remain in control as the Mountain Hawks took the second set 25-21 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. The Mountain Hawks hit .222 in the second set, which proved to be their best percentage of the match.

Lehigh continued its strong performance in the third set by taking a commanding 14-5 lead to open the set. The Crusaders rallied back to bring themselves within four at the 20-16 mark. From there, Lehigh surged ahead on a 5-1 run with the help of two kills from sophomore Leah Turner to close out the set 25-17 and claim the straight set victory.

Juniors Jade Van Streepen and Kaylynn Genemaras led Lehigh with nine kills apiece. Sophomore Amy Matula finished the match with 27 assists. The team tallied seven blocks and six service aces.

The Mountain Hawks will now return home and prepare to continue Patriot League play next weekend. Lehigh will host league newcomer Loyola next Friday (Sept. 27) at 7 p.m. and Navy next Saturday (Sept. 28) at 4 p.m. in Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.

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