Brantley breaks single-season digs record in 3-1 win over Navy

Saturday, November 1

Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall

4 p.m.

Lehigh University

18-9, 11-2PL

Navy

11-10, 8-4PL

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Navy	22	23	25	22	1
Lehigh	25	25	21	25	3

Brantley breaks single-season digs record in 3-1 win over Navy

11/1/2014 6:48:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball completed its first series sweep of Navy since 2011 Saturday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall as the Mountain Hawks picked up a big 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22) win over the third-place Mids. Sophomore libero Mariah Brantley set a new Lehigh single-season digs record in the match. The Mountain Hawks extend their second-place lead with the win and move to 11-2 in Patriot League play and 18-9 overall, while Navy falls to 11-10 overall and 8-4 in league play.

"That was a much improved Navy team since the first time we saw them," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "We were playing an almost error free game in the beginning and they were still hanging in there with us. We need to continue to have a big game from our middles and get our blocking game to the highest level."

Brantley's 21 digs against Navy moved her season total to 499 as she surpassed the previous record of 488 that was set in 1987 by Bonnie Bejsovec.

Junior Stephanie Slater led Lehigh offensively with 14 kills and a strong .344 hitting percentage. Slater also stuffed four total blocks. Brantley led the squad with 21 digs, while senior Jade Van Streepen tallied 14 digs to go along with nine kills. Junior Amy Matula narrowly missed her 15th double-double of the season with 38 assists, nine digs and seven kills. Junior Ana Vrhel tallied an outstanding .600 hitting percentage and nine kills to go along with four total blocks.

Five kills and a service ace helped Lehigh get out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set before the Mids answered with an 8-2 run to tie the score at 9. With the score knotted at 13, the Mountain Hawks were able to jump ahead 18-14 with the help of two kills from Slater. Navy battled back once again to even it at 19 before taking a one-point lead at 20-19 thanks to an Alli Graf service ace. The Mountain Hawks responded with a kill from sophomore Taylor Carroll, followed by a spike from Vrhel, Carroll service ace and Navy attack error to take a 23-21 lead. Navy pulled back within one at 23-21, but a Vrhel kill and Navy attack error led Lehigh to a 25-22 set-one victory and 1-0 match advantage.

The second set opened in a 5-5 tie before the Mountain Hawks went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead. Lehigh remained in control and slowly extended its lead and a Slater kill eventually gave the Mountain Hawks a seven-point advantage at 20-13. Trailing by six at 23-17, Navy responded with a 6-1 streak that saw a pair of service aces from Graf as the Mids pulled within one at 24-23. Junior Leah Turner answered with a kill to lift the Mountain Hawks to the 25-23 set-two victory and 2-0 match lead.

Lehigh led 7-4 early on in the third set before Navy eventually knotted the score at 11. The board read 17-17 after three more tie scores. A Lehigh service error sparked a 7-1 Navy run as the Mids held set points at 24-18. Lehigh wouldn't go down quietly as the Mountain Hawks fought off three set points, but a kill from Navy's Katie Sylakowski eventually gave the Mids the 25-21 set-three win.

The fourth set started out close once again as the board read 8-8 in the early goings. Kills from freshman Whitney Krantz began and ended a 4-0 Lehigh run to give the Mountain Hawks a 12-8 advantage, a lead Lehigh would never relinquish. The Mids pulled within one on several occasions, but Lehigh always had an answer as a kill from Vrhel eventually put away the 25-22 set-three win and 3-1 match victory.

The Mountain Hawks remain home to host Colgate next Friday at 7 p.m. inside Leeman-Turner Arena before traveling to Bucknell at 4 p.m. Saturday.

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