Lehigh remains undefeated in league play with straight-set win over Army

Saturday, September 20

4 p.m.

Lehigh University

8-7, 3-0PL

Army

5-10,1-2PL

ARMY

Lehigh

Lehigh remains undefeated in league play with straight-set win over Army

9/20/2014 6:28:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team captured a pair of 25-21 set victories before fighting off five set points to earn a 30-28 set three win as the Mountain Hawks grabbed a 3-0 victory over Army Saturday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks improve to 3-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 2002 and move to 8-7 overall, while the Black Knights fall to 1-2 in league play and 5-10 overall.

"We had a great weekend," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "It's always good to win three matches and we're pretty excited about how the week went. Today's win really showed the character of the team. We were playing against a very competitive, aggressive team and we learned in the third game that we had to play just as aggressively as them."

The straight-set win marks Lehigh's first 3-0 win over Army since Nov. 8, 2003.

Junior Stephanie Slater led Lehigh with 16 kills and an outstanding .419 hitting percentage. Sophomore Morgan Lowe followed with 14 kills and a .355 attacking percentage. Junior Amy Matula registered a double-double with 42 assists and 10 digs, while sophomore Mariah Bratley led the team with 20 digs. Junior Ana Vrhel posted three total blocks. Lehigh hit a season-best .315 as a team compared to Army's .256 percentage.

The opening set started with two tie scores before it was knotted at eight. A pair of kills from Lowe coupled with two Army errors put Lehigh ahead 12-9 as the Black Knights called their first timeout. The teams continued to exchange points, but Army could never pull closer than two as a kill from Carroll capped off a 25-21 set one victory for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks hit an impressive .429 in the opening set as Lowe, Slater and senior Jade Van Streepen each tallied five kills apiece.

The second set began in a 4-4 tie before a Matula kill sparked a 5-2 Lehigh run as the Mountain Hawks grabbed a 9-6 advantage. The Black Knights were eventually able to battle back and knot the score at 13 before taking a 19-17 lead on a spike from Amber Clay. Lehigh responded with a 5-0 run that saw kills from Carroll and Lowe to take a 22-19 advantage. The Black Knights were able to get two more points, but a Lowe spike put Army away and gave the Mountain Hawks a 25-21 set two win and 2-0 match advantage.

Lehigh opened the third set on a 4-0 run before Army battled back to take an early 6-5 lead. A kill from Lowe followed by three-straight spikes from Slater gave Lehigh back the lead at 9-6 and the Mountain Hawks eventually extended their advantage to 13-8 after two more kills from Slater. Army fought back with an 8-3 run that was capped off by a Clay service ace to tie the score at 16. The score was knotted four more times before Army had set point at 24-23 after a Lehigh attack error. The Mountain Hawks fought off five set points and the score read 28-28. A kill from Van Streepen put Lehigh ahead 29-28 before a bad Army set gave Lehigh the 30-28 set three victory and 3-0 match win.

The Mountain Hawks hit the road to take on Loyola Thursday before facing Navy Friday. Both matches are set for 7 p.m.

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