Saturday, November 15
Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall
4 p.m.
Lehigh University
21-9, 14-2PL
3
vs
2
American
24-6, 15-1PL
1
2
3
4
5
F
American
16
25
21
25
14
2
Lehigh
25
13
25
21
16
3
Mountain Hawks capture thrilling 3-2 win over undefeated American on Senior Day
11/15/2014 7:11:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team played spoiler Saturday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena as the Mountain Hawks battled to a 3-2 (25-1, 13-25, 25-21, 21-25, 16-14) win over American to hand the regular-season champion Eagles their first and only Patriot League loss of the season. Seniors Jade Van Streepen and Kaylynn Genemaras were honored prior to the match on Senior Day. The Mountain Hawks end the regular season on a nine-match win streak and a program record 14 league wins, and just two league losses, to go along with a 21-9 overall mark. American falls to 24-6 overall and 15-1 in league play.
"It was a great win for us," explained head coach Bob Bertucci. "I'm really excited for the ladies because they played very well and competitively throughout the whole match. I'm really excited for Jade and Kaylynn to get a win like this on their Senior Day."
Van Streepen recorded a double-double with a career-high 26 kills and 14 digs to go along with a .310 hitting percentage. Junior Leah Turner followed with 12 kills. Classmate Amy Matula notched a double-double with 52 assists and a career-high 17 digs to go along with seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Sophomore libero Mariah Brantley led the team with 27 digs. Classmate Taylor Carroll recorded four total blocks to go along with seven kills and a .389 hitting percentage. The Mountain Hawks hit .238 as a team compared to American's .254 hitting percentage.
American got out to a 6-3 lead in the first set, but an illegal substitution at the beginning of the game forced the referee to erase the Eagles' points as the score stood 3-0 in favor of Lehigh. Following a Brantley service ace, American put its first two official points on the board before a Van Streepen kill sparked a 4-0 Lehigh run and the Mountain Hawks took an 8-2 lead. American was eventually able to pull within one at 13-12, but a spike from junior Ana Vrhel ignited a 7-1 Mountain Hawk streak to put Lehigh up 20-13. The Eagles could never recover as a Carroll service ace eventually secured the 25-16 set-one win for Lehigh.
The second set started in a 5-5 tie before four kills from American's Allison Cappellino helped the Eagles to a 10-3 run and 15-8 lead. Lehigh was never able to recover from the large deficit as American hit a match-high .410 in the second set and evened the match at one with a 25-13 set win.
The Eagles held onto a slim lead in the third set until a bad American set broke a 9-all tie and put the Mountain Hawks up 10-9. After two knotted scores, kills from Cappellino and Erin Swartz gave the Eagles a 15-13 advantage. A pair of kills from junior Stephanie Slater capped off a 5-3 Lehigh response to tie the score at 18. American jumped ahead 19-18 and 20-19, but Lehigh closed the set on a 6-1 run with the help of a kill and block from sophomore Katie Jennison to take 25-21 set-three victory and 2-1 match advantage.
The fourth set began in a 6-6 tie, but a kill from Matula was the first of five unanswered points for the Mountain Hawks as Lehigh took an 11-6 lead. The Eagles responded with an 8-1 run to jump ahead 14-12. The Eagles remained in the lead for the remainder of the set and held off a late Lehigh rally to even the match at two with a 25-21 set-four victory.
The fifth and decisive set was tied at every mark up to four. Kills from Van Streepen and Turner broke the 4-all tie to put Lehigh up 6-4 and force an American timeout. The Eagles answered with back-to-back points to tie the score at six before taking an 8-7 advantage into the halfway mark of the set. American worked its advantage to 11-9 before a pair of Eagle errors and kill from Van Streepen knotted the score at 12. The Eagles used a kill from Kelly McCaddin and Cappellino service ace to set up match point at 14-12. Following a Lehigh timeout, back-to-back kills from Turner erased American's match point and tied the score at 14. An Eagle attack error put Lehigh up 15-14 before a spike from Matula cemented the 16-14 set-five win and 3-2 match victory as Lehigh captured just its fifth-ever win over the Eagles.
The Mountain Hawks will head to American next Saturday and Sunday to compete in the Patriot League Tournament. No. 2 Lehigh will face No. 3 Navy in the semifinals Saturday at 4 p.m., while top-seeded American will take on No. 4 Army. The winners of the semifinal matches will advance to Sunday's championship match, which is set for 1 p.m.. All matches can be viewed for free on the Patriot League Network.
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Team Stats
AMERICAN
LEHIGH
Kills
61
68
Errors
18
24
Attempts
169
185
Hitting %
.254
.238
Points
75.0
77.0
Assists
59
65
Aces
4
4
Blocks
10.0
5.0
Game Leaders
Kills
26
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
Libero
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OH
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MB
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