Friday, November 6
Washington, D.C.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
17-12, 9-5
0
at
3
American
23-6, 14-0
1
2
3
F
Lehigh
18
17
18
0
American
25
25
25
3
Lehigh falls 3-0 at two-time defending champ American
11/6/2015 9:12:00 PM | Volleyball
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Lehigh volleyball team wasn't able to get its offense going at first-place American Friday night as the Eagles captured a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-18) victory. American remains undefeated in league play (14-0) and locks up the top seed in the Patriot League Tournament with the win. The Mountain Hawks, who have already secured a postseason berth, fall to 9-5 in league play and 17-12 overall with the loss.
"American is a very well-coached, accomplished team," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "We knew we'd have to be very aggressive on first contact, and the longer the rally went on the more the advantage went to American. We saw some things that we think we'll be able to exploit the next time so we'll have to work on those in the next two weeks and hopefully we'll get a chance to play them again in the championship."
Senior Stephanie Slater led Lehigh with eight kills, while sophomore Whitney Krantz followed with six. Freshman Emily Develle registered a team-best 19 kills, while senior Amy Matula dished 15 assists. The Mountain Hawks were limited to a .085 hitting percentage, while American recorded a clip of .239.
American scored the first three points of the opening set and quickly extended its advantage to five at 11-6. The Eagles remained ahead by six at 16-10 before a kill from senior Ana Vrhel sparked a 4-1 Lehigh run that pulled the Mountain Hawks back within two at 17-15. That would be as close as Lehigh would get the rest of the way as the Eagles closed the set on an 8-3 run to capture a 25-18 victory and take a 1-0 match advantage.
Lehigh faced an early 5-1 deficit in the second set but slowly chipped away to narrow the gap to two at 13-11. The Eagles answered with a 6-1 streak that re-extended the American lead to 19-12. An American attack error was followed by a kill from junior Katie Jennison to put the next two points on the board for the Mountain Hawks, but it would be the last time Lehigh tallied back-to-back points before American secured a 25-17 set-two victory to take a 2-0 match lead.
The third set was much of the same as Lehigh was able to stay close early, trailing 12-10 mid-way through the stanza. Four-straight American points helped the Eagles pull away and extend their lead to 16-11. The Mountain Hawks weren't able to record back-to-back points until American held match point at 24-16 and kills from Krantz and Slater followed, but an Eagles block eventually secured the 25-18 victory and straight-set American win.
The Mountain Hawks return to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall next weekend to host Holy Cross Friday at 7 p.m. before welcoming Army West Point Saturday at 4 p.m. in the final two matches of the regular season.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
AMERICAN
Kills
31
39
Errors
20
12
Attempts
129
113
Hitting %
.085
.239
Points
35.0
56.0
Assists
27
39
Aces
1
8
Blocks
3.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
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MB
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/ VolleyballRS
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