Lehigh sweeps hosts, earns split on first day of Patriot Invitational

Friday, September 5

Fairfax, Va.

1 p.m.

Lehigh University

3-2

George Mason

0-4

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Lehigh	25	25	29	3
George Mason	19	11	27	0

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
MARYLAND	20	27	25	25	3
Lehigh	25	25	20	15	1

Lehigh sweeps hosts, earns split on first day of Patriot Invitational

9/5/2014 9:13:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

FAIRFAX, Va. – The Lehigh volleyball team started strong on day one of the Patriot Invitational, sweeping host George Mason and winning the first set against Big Ten member Maryland, but the Terps rallied to win a tight second set and went on to defeat the Mountain Hawks in four sets forcing Lehigh to settle for a split Friday. Junior Stephanie Slater totaled 26 kills on the day as Lehigh swept George Mason 25-19, 25-11, 29-27. In the nightcap, Maryland improved to 4-0 on the year with a 20-25, 27-25, 25-20 and 25-15 victory.

"We had a great win against George Mason, which was a pretty physical and good team," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "Our girls made less mistakes and volleyed a little bit better than they did. We had an outstanding performance by Stephanie Slater in that match and she opened up the game and they couldn't stop her.

"We played tremendously in the first set against Maryland and they weren't prepared for that," continued Bertucci. "They physical overpowered us even though our skill set matched right with them."

With Friday's split, Lehigh stands at 3-3 after its first six matches of 2014.

George Mason got out to a quick 6-2 lead in the opening set of the day's first match, but Lehigh quickly rallied to tie the set at eight behind a pair of kills from Slater. With the set knotted at 13, a bad set by George Mason's Jessie Greenslade sparked a 5-0 Lehigh run as the Mountain Hawks took an 18-13 advantage. The Patriot used three unanswered points to narrow Lehigh's lead to four at 23-19, but a pair of George Mason errors gave Lehigh the 25-19 set one victory.

The second set began with a 3-3 tie before Lehigh took advantage of several George Mason errors and added a kill and block assist from Slater to score seven unanswered points and take a 10-3 lead. The Mountain Hawks continued their dominance as a kill from freshman Kelly Bennett secured a strong 25-11 set two win.

The third set was by far the closest of the match as George Mason took an early 8-4 lead. Three straight kills from senior Jade Van Streepen knotted the score at eight. The teams continued to trade points and the score was tied seven more times before it reached 22 all. Lehigh jumped ahead 24-22 thanks to a Slater kill, but the Patriots had an answer and the score eventually worked to 26-26. A George Mason attack error and another kill from Slater secured the 29-27 set three win and 3-0 match victory.

Slater led Lehigh with a career-high 16 kills and impressive .364 hitting percentage. Lowe also tallied double-digit kills with 11, while sophomore Mariah Brantley registered 12 digs and junior Amy Matula added 31 assists. The Mountain Hawks hit .276 as a team and limited George Mason to just .058.

In Friday's second match, Lehigh raced to an early 8-2 lead behind consecutive kills by Van Streepen. The Mountain Hawks built the lead back to six on three occasions, but a 4-0 Terps run brought Maryland within 19-18. With Lehigh nursing a 22-20 lead, the Mountain Hawks closed out the first set with three straight points, capped by a service ace by sophomore Taylor Carroll.

The second set was incredibly tight, with neither team having an advantage of more than two points at any point during the set. The Mountain Hawks had a golden opportunity to go up 2-0 after a Slater kill put them up 24-23, but a service ace evened the set once again. Maryland captured the final two points on an Emily Fraik kill and an attack error by Matula.

The Terrapins built a five point lead in the third set with a 4-0 run thanks to a pair of Carlotta Oggioni aces and a Slater attack error to go up 14-9. Lehigh never got back within five in the set as Oggioni capped the 25-20 set three win with another ace.

Maryland put the match away with a 25-15 win in the fourth set. The Terps won 12 of the final 15 points, including six straight off Oggioni's serve. Maryland hit .333 in the final set, while Lehigh hit just .045.

For the match, Maryland hit .244 to Lehigh's .133 and had an 11-2 edge in total team blocks.

Van Streepen led the Mountain Hawks with a double-double (18 kills, 15 digs) and a .256 attack percentage, while Slater added ten kills and hit .222. Matula registered 41 assists, while Brantley had 24 digs.

Adreene Elliott led Maryland with 18 kills. Oggioni had 40 assists and 12 digs to go with three aces.

Mountain Hawks resume the Patriot Invitational Saturday with a 10 a.m. contest against William and Mary before taking on East Tennessee State in the tournament finale at 4 p.m.

Like Lehigh volleyball on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates and team content.