Tuesday, September 13
Villanova, Pa.
7 p.m.

Lehigh University

0
at
3

Villanova

Villanova Defeats Lehigh in Three-Setter

9/13/2016 10:30:00 PM | Volleyball



VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball lost a three-set match on the road to a strong Villanova team on Tuesday night.

Freshman Ana Spangenberg led the Mountain Hawks (3-7) offensively with a season-high seven kills, while junior Kelly Bennett added six kills. Sophomore Megan Polak led the squad with 18 assists and sophomore Emily Develle finished with a team-leading 12 digs.

The first set started with Villanova (7-3) running out to a 5-0 lead on four kills and a service ace. Lehigh caught a break on a Wildcat service error and then tacked on another point on a kill by freshman Julia Pressly to cut the deficit to 5-2. Villanova went back to work and eventually built up a hefty 12-4 advantage. From that point, the Wildcats never let the lead fall below four as they went on to win the first set, 25-17.

The second set started much differently than the first as the Mountain Hawks found themselves in a 3-2 lead with kills by Victoria Hemsath and Spangenberg. Villanova moved out to a 10-6 lead, but errors by the Wildcats combined with kills by Jessica Donaldson shrunk the lead to 13-12. Lehigh would tack on two more points, but Villanova went on an 8-0 to end the set and win by a score of 25-14.

The Wildcats came out on fire in the third set and looked determined to complete sweep as they built up an 18-9 lead. Lehigh would not go away easily as the Mountain hawks ran off six-straight points to cut the deficit to 18-15. Villanova would survive the late scare by Lehigh and went on to cruise to a 25-20 victory in the third set and complete the 3-0 match sweep.

"We faced a really good team tonight in Villanova who is coming off a great season last year and have a very talented group this season," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "I admire our effort and how hard we played given the fact that we are battling injuries and shuffling players around to new roles."

The Mountain Hawks will be back in action this weekend when they travel to the Panther Challenge hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. Lehigh's first match will be against Robert Morris on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

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