Saturday, September 26
4 p.m.
Lehigh University
9-8, 2-1PL
3
vs
1
Navy
2-13, 0-2PL
1
2
3
4
F
Navy
20
21
25
23
1
Lehigh
25
25
23
25
3
Lehigh picks up 3-1 win over Navy
9/26/2015 6:38:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team battled for a hard-fought 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23) victory over Navy Saturday afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena. The Mountain Hawks improve to 2-1 in league play and 9-8 overall with the win, while the Mids fall to 0-2 in the Patriot League and 2-13 overall.
"This was a very exciting match," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "Every set was down to a two-point set and down to the wire. Navy played an extremely smart game and competed the whole time, so it was a good challenge for us."
Senior Amy Matula registered 44 assists to go along with seven kills, a .400 attack percentage and six digs. Classmate Leah Turner secured a double-double with a team-high 16 kills and ten digs, while senior Stephanie Slater chipped in 12 kills. Junior Katie Jennison smacked nine kills with no errors in 13 attempts for an outstanding .692 hitting percentage. Freshman Emily Develle registered a team-high 11 digs. The Mountain Hawks hit .292 as a team compared to Navy's .264 attack percentage.
The opening set began in a 6-6 tie before a kill from sophomore Whitney Krantz and a pair of blocks from Turner and senior Ana Vrhel helped Lehigh put four straight points on the board to give the Mountain Hawks a 10-6 advantage. The Mids were able to pull within two at 12-10, but Lehigh responded with a 7-1 streak that saw two kills from both Slater and Krantz as Lehigh jumped ahead 19-11. Navy used a 5-1 run to cut Lehigh's lead to four at 22-18, but a kill from Slater eventually put the set away and Lehigh earned a 25-20 victory.
The Mids broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-4 run in the second set to give Navy a 15-11 advantage. The Mountain Hawks strung together a 6-2 streak with the help of kills from Turner, Krantz and Jennison to knot the score at 17. With the score knotted again at 19, a pair of Navy errors were followed by spikes from Jennison and Slater as Lehigh surged ahead 23-19. The Mids scored the next two points, but Turner smacked a kill before serving up an ace to secure a 25-21 set-two victory and 2-0 match advantage.
Navy came out with a vengeance in the third set, quickly taking a 13-6 lead. The Mountain Hawks responded with a 9-3 streak to splice the Mids' lead down to one at 16-15. Navy was ahead by three at 19-16 until kills from Vrhel, Turner and Matula knotted the score at 20. Three kills from Rachel Fortner helped Navy avoid the sweep as the Mids grabbed a 25-23 set-three victory.
Three kills from Jennison helped Lehigh to an early 5-2 victory in the fourth set and Lehigh held onto the lead until Navy battled to knot the score at 13. The Mids later controlled an 18-16 advantage, but kills from Turner and Slater helped Lehigh jump ahead 19-18. The Mountain Hawks were up by three at 23-20, but three straight Navy points tied the set at 23. A Krantz kill and block from Vrhel and Matula followed to record the final two points and give Lehigh a 25-23 set-four win and 3-1 match victory.
The Mountain Hawks return to action next Friday night at Bucknell at 7 p.m. before hosting Colgate Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
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Team Stats
NAVY
LEHIGH
Kills
58
56
Errors
19
16
Attempts
148
137
Hitting %
.264
.292
Points
66.0
72.0
Assists
58
52
Aces
7
8
Blocks
1.0
8.0
Game Leaders
Kills
16
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
L
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballS
/ VolleyballRS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
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