Mountain Hawks drop 3-1 battle at Navy

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team wasn't able to stop Navy late in sets Friday evening as the Mids captured a 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23) victory. The Mountain Hawks fall to 6-4 in league play and 14-11 overall, while the Mids improve to 3-6 in the Patriot League and 5-17 overall.

"We didn't play well tonight and seemed to be too worried about making mistakes," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "We were better in the third set since they came out more aggressively and upbeat, which is why we won that set. We really need to evaluate how they want to play going forward."

Sophomore Whitney Krantz recorded 11 kills with no errors in 24 total attacks for a strong .458 hitting percentage, while senior Leah Turner tallied a team-high 12 kills. Senior Ana Vrhel stuffed nine total blocks to go along with eight kills, while classmate Stephanie Slater also chipped in eight spikes. Freshman Megan Polak led the team with 23 assists, while freshman Emily Develle registered a squad-high 12 digs. The Mids hit .186 for the match and limited Lehigh to an attack percentage of .169.

Three kills from Vrhel guided Lehigh to a 7-3 lead in the first set, but the Mids strung together a 6-1 run to jump in front 9-8. The set was then tied at every point from nine to 15 until the Mids used three-straight points to pull ahead 18-15. Lehigh pulled back within one at 20-19 following kills from Slater and Krantz and were still within a single point at 22-21, but the Mids scored the final three points of the set to capture a 25-21 victory and take a 1-0 match lead.

The teams exchanged leads early on in the second set with Navy leading at 12-10 before Lehigh battled back for a 13-12 advantage. The Mids scored the next three points, but three Navy errors quickly tied the score at 16. Tied again at 20-20, Navy once again took control of the end of the set as the Mids scored four of the final five points to earn another 25-21 victory and take a 2-0 match lead.

Lehigh broke a 7-7 tie with four straight points to take an 11-7 lead in the third set. The Mids quickly tied the set at 13, but Lehigh answered with an 8-1 run with the help of kills from Turner and Slater, several Navy errors and a service ace from junior Mariah Brantley to jump ahead 21-14. The lead proved to be too much for Navy to overcome as a kill from Krantz eventually put the set away at 25-17 to keep Lehigh alive and narrow the Mids' advantage to 2-1.

Navy took a 12-8 lead in the fourth set before Lehigh scored the next four points to knot the score at 12. The teams exchanged small leads, but neither could pull ahead by more than two as the set was tied again at 20. The Mids used a pair of kills and a Lehigh attack error to claim a 23-21 lead and force the Mountain Hawks to call a timeout. Lehigh scored the next point, but Navy set up match point at 24-22. A Mids attack error helped the Mountain Hawks fight off the first match point, but Lehigh followed with an attack error to give Navy a 25-23 set-four win and 3-1 match victory.

The Mountain Hawks return to action Saturday at Loyola and first serve is set for 2 p.m.

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Team Stats

Leah Turner

Whitney Krantz

Ana Vrhel

Stephanie Slater

Players Mentioned

Mariah Brantley

Emily Develle

Whitney Krantz

Megan Polak

Stephanie Slater

Leah Turner

Ana Vrhel

Lehigh University Athletics

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