Mountain Hawks drop straight-set match at Army West Point

Friday, October 16

West Point, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

11-10, 4-3PL

Army West Point

14-6, 6-1PL

Lehigh

Army

Mountain Hawks drop straight-set match at Army West Point

10/16/2015 8:51:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Lehigh volleyball team wasn't able to get its offense going in a 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-22) loss at Army West Point Friday night. The Mountain Hawks fall to 4-3 in Patriot League play and 11-10 overall with the loss, while the Black Knights improve to 6-1 in the league and 14-6 overall.

"We didn't have the performance from some of our key players that we needed to," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "A few of our players just didn't have good matches and sometimes that happens. There were a few bright spots and we'll have to find a way to regroup before tomorrow's match at Holy Cross."

Senior Ana Vrhel led Lehigh with 11 kills and a .421 hitting percentage, while senior Leah Turner followed with nine spikes and a team-best ten digs. Freshman Megan Polak dished a team-best 22 assists. The Black Knights hit .330 for the match and limited Lehigh to a clip of .150.

The Black Knights got out to a fast 8-3 start in the opening set before Lehigh rattled off the next three points to pull within two at 8-6. Army answered with a 6-0 run to extend its advantage to 14-6 before a Black Knight attack error finally broke the streak. The lead proved to be too much to overcome for the Mountain Hawks as Army earned a 25-14 set-one win and 1-0 match advantage.

With the second set tied at five, Lehigh began to pick up its pace thanks to a 6-1 streak that saw two service aces and kills from four different Mountain Hawks. The Black Knights scored the next four points to narrow the Mountain Hawks lead to one, but Lehigh eventually regained a three-point lead at 16-13 with the help of two kills from senior Stephanie Slater. Lehigh held onto a slim 19-18 advantage, but Army rallied to close the set on a 6-3 run to claim the second stanza 25-21 and take a 2-0 match lead.

The third set began in a 5-5 tie and two kills from Vrhel helped guide the Mountain Hawks to a 10-6 lead. Army responded with a 7-2 streak to jump ahead 13-12 before the score was tied at every point until 16. The Black Knights broke the 16-16 tie with a four straight points and eventually extended their lead to five at 22-17. A pair of kills from Turner and Polak service ace pulled Lehigh within two at 22-20, but a spike from Carolyn Bockrath eventually handed Army a 25-22 set-three win and 3-0 match victory.

The Mountain Hawks wrap up the weekend when Lehigh heads to Holy Cross Saturday at 5 p.m. Free video will be available on the Patriot League Network.

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