Mountain Hawks continue strong play with 3-0 win at NJIT

Saturday, October 18

Newark, N.J.

4 p.m.

Lehigh University

14-9

NJIT

6-17

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Lehigh	25	25	25	3
NJIT	17	22	14	0

Mountain Hawks continue strong play with 3-0 win at NJIT

10/18/2014 6:04:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – The Lehigh volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-14) win at NJIT in the Mountain Hawks' final non-league match of the season on Saturday afternoon. Lehigh improves to 14-9 overall, while the Highlanders fall to 6-17.

"The team competed very well today, especially in the third game," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "The girls came out really strong and served aggressively, which helped disturb NJIT. We weren't hitting as well as I would've liked but part of that was because we were on the road and coming off a big match last night"

Junior Amy Matula registered a double-double with 28 assists and ten digs to go along with five total blocks. The 26 assists move Matula's career total to 2,147 as the junior now sits in fifth place on Lehigh's all-time career assists leaderboard. Sophomore Morgan Lowe led the squad with six kills. Junior Stephanie Slater hit an impressive .357 to go along with five kills. Sophomore Mariah Brantley registered a team-best 21 digs. The Mountain Hawks hit .184 as a team and limited NJIT to just a .067 hitting percentage.

"Amy had a really good performance for us today," said Bertucci. "She set really well and ran the offense well, but also stepped up defensively and was digging and blocking tremendously."

The first set opened in a 3-3 tie before a Slater kill sparked a 4-0 Lehigh run as the Mountain Hawks took a 7-3 advantage. Back-to-back NJIT kills narrowed the Lehigh lead to two at 8-6, but the Mountain Hawks responded with five unanswered points to reclaim a commanding advantage at 13-6. The Highlanders tried to battle back multiple times, but Lehigh remained in control as a kill from freshman Whitney Krantz eventually closed out the 25-17 set one victory.

The second set was much closer as the score was knotted eight times before it read 13-13. Lehigh was able to take advantage of NJIT errors as the Mountain Hawks took a 18-15 lead, but the Highlanders rallied to tie the score at 19. A kill from sophomore Katie Jennison coupled with a Lowe service ace and NJIT error helped the Mountain Hawks surge ahead 22-19. The Highlanders were able to record a few more points, but a Slater kill capped off a 25-22 set two win for Lehigh.

Spikes from four different Mountain Hawks helped Lehigh to an early 6-2 lead in the third set. Lehigh followed with a 7-3 run that was capped off by a Van Streepen kill to take a 13-5 lead as the Highlanders were forced to call a timeout. The Mountain Hawks remained in control for the remainder of the set and never let NJIT get closer than eight as Lehigh cruised to 25-14 set three win and its second-straight 3-0 match victory.

The Mountain Hawks remain on the road next weekend for a pair of important league matches at Army and Holy Cross. Lehigh faces the Black Knights on Friday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Holy Cross Saturday at 4 p.m.

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