Wednesday, September 21
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-9, 1-0PL
3
vs
0
Lafayette
2-9, 0-1PL
1
2
3
F
Lafayette
15
17
20
0
Lehigh
25
25
25
3
Lehigh Sweeps Lafayette, 3-0, to Open Patriot League Play
9/21/2016 10:35:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In front of an electric crowd inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace, the Lehigh volleyball team opened Patriot League play on Wednesday night with a 3-0 sweep over rival Lafayette.
The night marked the 85th meeting between the two programs as Lehigh improves to 55-30 in the all-time series and has won 13 of the last 14 meetings with the Leopards. With the win, The Mountain Hawks improve to 5-9 on the season, while Lafayette has now lost seven straight to fall to 2-9 on the season.
"Anytime Lehigh is playing Lafayette all the game plans go out the window because there is just so much emotion involved in the game and that is how it was tonight," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "Last year, Lafayette played tremendously well in our place, so we were better prepared for how hard the match was going to be this time. I thought our players came out and executed really well."
Lehigh utilized a balanced attack offensively as a trio of players led the way with eight kills on the night, which included Emily Poole, Tori Hemsath and Ana Spangenberg. Megan Polak once again led in the assist category with 28. She has now reached over 20 assists seven times this season.
Mariah Brantley led the team with 10 digs to go along with a team-high three service aces on the night. Emily Develle also contributed in multiple areas as she finished with nine digs, eight assists, a service ace and a kill.
As a team, the Mountain Hawks compiled their best hitting percentage of the season with a mark of .284. Lehigh held Lafayette to a hitting percentage of .171 and compiled a 44-23 advantage in total kills.
Lehigh dictated the tempo early, jumping out to a 12-5 lead to open the first set and forced Lafayette to burn a timeout. Hemsath led the opening run with two kills and Brantley capped the run with a service ace. The Mountain Hawks never felt a threat from the Leopards for the remainder of the first set and cruised to a 25-15 victory, led by Hemsath's five kills.
The second set started in similar fashion to the first as Lehigh opened a 10-5 lead and forced another Lafayette timeout. The Mountain Hawks remained in control throughout the set as their lead never dipped below four. The set eventually resulted in a 25-17 victory for the Brown and White with Brantley and Poole each recording a pair of service aces in the set.
The third setting started with Lehigh falling behind for just the second time on the night, but the Mountain Hawks quickly recovered an knotted the score up at 4-4. After falling behind again, 9-8, Lehigh regained the momentum it needed and went on a 7-0 run to take a 15-9 lead. The run was critical to winning the third set as Lehigh remained in the lead from that point and went on to claim the third set 25-20 to complete the sweep.
"Going forward in conference play, anything can happen as the teams are much closer and the parody is greater than its ever been before," said Bertucci. "I think the tough schedule we have had to this helped us get through tonight and has certainly prepared us for the tough matches ahead."
The Mountain Hawks will take to the road this weekend as Patriot League play continues. Lehigh will face Navy on Friday at 7 p.m. and then head to Loyola on Saturday for a 2 p.m. match.
Team Stats
LAFAYETT
LEHIGH
Kills
23
44
Errors
10
15
Attempts
76
102
Hitting %
.171
.284
Points
30.0
54.0
Assists
23
40
Aces
3
8
Blocks
4.0
2.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
8
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
L
/ Volleyball
L
/ VolleyballRS/OH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballRS
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