Mountain Hawks fall to Army West Point in Patriot League Semifinals

Saturday, November 21

Washington, D.C.

4 p.m.

Lehigh University

19-13

No. 2 Army West Point

21-9

Lehigh

Army

Mountain Hawks fall to Army West Point in Patriot League Semifinals

11/21/2015 5:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The third-seeded Lehigh volleyball team wasn't able to get much going against No. 2 Army West Point in the Patriot League Semifinals Saturday afternoon at American's Bender Arena as the Eagles claimed a 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-17) victory. The Mountain Hawks' season comes to a close at 19-13, while the Black Knights advance to Sunday's championship match.

"We didn't play well as a team today," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "Army did exactly what they wanted to do and what we expected them to do. They executed their game plan very well and we had spots where we played well, but then we made unforced errors that fed into Army's confidence."

Senior Stephanie Slater led Lehigh with ten kills, while classmate Leah Turner followed with eight. Slater was later named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts. Senior Amy Matula dished a team-best 18 assists, while Matula and freshman Emily Develle both registered a squad-high eight digs. The Mountain Hawks hit just .119 as a team compared to Army's attack percentage of .368.

"I'm upset for our five seniors (Leah Turner, Amy Matula, Ana Vrhel, Stephanie Slater and Claire Bradshaw) because they didn't have a better end to their season," said Bertucci. "They really worked hard and meant a lot to the program. They've accomplished a lot over their four years and their body of work has been very impressive."

The opening set began in a 4-4 tie before the Black Knights rattled off three-straight points to jump ahead 7-4. An Army service error was followed by a Turner kill to pull Lehigh within one at 7-6 and the Mountain Hawks stuck around at 12-10 before the Black Knights rattled off a 6-1 streak to break open the first set and take an 18-11 lead. A Turner kill then ignited a quick 3-0 run for the Mountain Hawks to pull Lehigh within 18-14 and force an Army timeout. The Mountain Hawks worked their way within two at 21-19, but Army scored four of the set's final six points to capture a 25-21 victory and 1-0 match advantage.

The second set began closely as the score was tied seven times before Army broke a 13-13 tie with four unanswered points to jump ahead 17-13. A kill from Slater stopped the Black Knight streak, but Army followed with the next six points to secure set point at 24-14. A kill from freshman Megan Polak was followed by a spike from Turner, but a kill from Nicole Perri was able to tally the final point as the Black Knights took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-16 set-two victory.

A kill and service ace from senior Ana Vrhel helped Lehigh to an early 3-1 lead in the third set, but Army answered with a 7-1 streak to jump ahead 8-4 and force an early Lehigh timeout. The Mountain Hawks tallied the first two points out of the break, but the Black Knights were able to pull away to take a 20-12 lead. Lehigh was never able to catch up as a Mountain Hawk service error eventually secured a 25-17 set-three win and 3-0 match victory for Army.

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