Mountain Hawks fall in straight sets to George Washington

Friday, September 18

Pittsburgh, Pa.

4:30 p.m.

Lehigh University

(7-5)

George Washington

(8-4)

George Washington

Lehigh

Mountain Hawks fall in straight sets to George Washington

9/18/2015 6:17:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match (25-23, 25-17, 25-18) to George Washington Friday afternoon in the opening contest of Pitt's Panther Invite. The Mountain Hawks fall to 7-5 overall with the loss, while the Patriots improve to 8-4.

"I thought George Washington played very well," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "They came out aggressively and had some strong middle play that we had difficulty stopping. We'd rally and play close, but weren't able to sustain it."

Senior Leah Turner led Lehigh with 13 kills, while classmate Stephanie Slater chipped in seven. Senior Amy Matula registered six kills with no errors in nine attempts to go along with a team-best 20 assists, while junior Mariah Brantley recorded 11 digs. The Patriots hit .330 as a team and limited Lehigh to a .124 attack percentage.

George Washington got out to an early 9-3 lead in the opening set before Lehigh rattled off the next four points with the help of kills from Matula and Turner to pull within 9-7. The Colonials re-extended their lead to 15-10 before Lehigh battled back within two once again following kills from Matula and freshman Hannah Wagner to make it 15-13. George Washington answered with the next three points to force a Lehigh timeout. The Mountain Hawks responded with a 5-0 run that saw back-to-back kills from Turner to knot the score at 18-18. Following two more tie scores, Lehigh took its first lead at 21-20 after a GWU error, but the Colonials tied the set at 23 before kills from Kelsey Clark and Chidima Osuchukwu secured a 25-23 set-one win for George Washington.

The Mountain Hawks held an early 5-4 lead in the second set, but a 4-0 streak quickly gave George Washington an 8-5 advantage. The Patriots then scored eight of the next 13 points to extend their lead to six at 16-10. Lehigh wouldn't get closer than four the rest of the way and a kill from Aailya Davidson eventually sealed a 25-17 set-two victory for the Patriots.

The Mountain Hawks began the third set by turning a 9-8 deficit into a 13-9 advantage with the help of three Turner kills to force a George Washington timeout. The Patriots responded by scoring the next eight points to re-take a four point advantage at 17-13. Lehigh put the next three points on the board to narrow the Patriots' lead to one at 17-16, but George Washington closed the set on an 8–2 run to earn a 25-18 set-three win and 3-0 match victory.

Lehigh will play two more matches at the Panther Invitational Saturday when the Mountain Hawks face Pitt at 12 p.m. before taking on Bowling Green at 4:30 p.m.

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