Saturday, September 3
10 a.m.
Lehigh University
2-3
3
vs
0
Saint Peter's
0-2
1
2
3
F
Saint Peter's
14
21
18
0
Lehigh
25
25
25
3
Mountain Hawks earn 3-0 wins over Saint Peter’s and Fairleigh Dickinson
9/3/2016 6:58:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh volleyball team bounced back from a tough match Friday night to win a pair of 3-0 finals on Saturday as part of the Crosstown Invitational in Leeman-Turner Arena. The Mountain Hawks defeated Saint Peter's (25-14, 25-21, 25-18) in the morning before topping Fairleigh Dickinson (25-20, 25-16, 25-15) in the afternoon to improve to 3-3 on the season.
"We had a really tough, five-game match Friday night," said Lehigh head coach Bob Bertucci. "We got done late and we had an early-morning game. I thought the girls did a great job staying focused on what they had to do, putting that match behind them and getting ready for this morning. We weren't as consistent as we wanted to be. We came out really strong, which was good. We didn't maintain it, but we played well enough to win."
Against Saint Peter's, the Mountain Hawks jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set. The Peacocks responded with four of the next five points to take a 5-4 advantage, but Lehigh responded with a 6-0 run as three consecutive kills - by freshman Julia Pressly, sophomore Victoria Hemsath and junior Kelly Bennett - gave the Mountain Hawks a 10-5 lead, forcing a Saint Peter's timeout. The lead progressively increased, eventually reaching nine at 22-13 following three straight kills from freshman Jessica Donaldson, Pressley and Hemsath. A service error gave Lehigh the deciding point and a 1-0 lead.
Saint Peter's jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, but the Mountain Hawks had an answer. Trailing 4-2, Lehigh recorded eight of the next nine points, capped off by a kill from Hemsath to give her team a 10-5 advantage. Lehigh's lead reached 10 for the first time at 16-6 following a Pressley kill then with Lehigh on top 20-12, Saint Peter's staged an 8-3 run to pull within 23-20. However, a kill from Pressly gave Lehigh the 25-21 set two victory.
In the third set, neither team led by more than two until the middle stages when Lehigh staged a 6-0 run to turn a 12-11 lead into an 18-11 advantage. Saint Peter's pulled as close as five at 22-17, but the Mountain Hawks posted thee of the next four points as a service ace from sophomore Emily Develle gave Lehigh the 3-0 match victory.
Donaldson led the Mountain Hawks with 12 kills against Saint Peter's with a .417 attack percentage. Junior Stephanie Steiber posted a team-high 17 assists while senior Mariah Brantley led the way with 17 digs.
The day's second match saw Fairleigh Dickinson lead for much of the first set. The Knights eventually extended their advantage to 14-11 and later, 20-17, but the Mountain Hawks ended the set in a big way. Lehigh recorded the final eight points of the set as consecutive kills from Bennett turned a 20-20 tie into a 22-20 Mountain Hawks' lead, helping Lehigh wrap up the 25-20 win.
Tied at three early in the second set, the Mountain Hawks went on to post 15 of the next 18 points to start creating separation. Included was a 5-0 run capped off by three consecutive kills, from Hemsath, Polak and freshman Emily Poole, to give Lehigh an 18-9 advantage. From there, the Knights couldn't pull much closer as the Mountain Hawks wrapped up a 25-16 victory.
Lehigh never trailed in the second set, on its way to another impressive win. A 4-0 run helped the Mountain Hawks turn a 9-5 lead into a 13-5 advantage. FDU pulled within six at 19-13, but that's as close as the Knights would come as Lehigh won, 25-15.
Like against Saint Peters, Donaldson led Lehigh in kills with 11. Bennett had nine kills and a .750 attack percentage. Polak recorded a team-high 25 assists while Develle had a team-high 16 digs.
"I thought the difference in the second match was we played very consistently and we minimized some of our errors that we were making earlier," said Bertucci. "I thought we had a solid performance against FDU, who is a pretty good team."
The Mountain Hawks return to action next weekend when they head to the Bama Bash Tournament. Lehigh will face Southern Mississippi and Northwestern State next Friday and host Alabama on Saturday.
"Emily (Develle) was solid throughout the whole weekend and our primary passers were really putting up high numbers, so I was happy with the way they were passing," said Bertucci. "I think our setters are getting better in terms of their consistency and that's going to make a big difference for us. One of the real bright spots was we brought in Stephanie Stieber, one of our settters, as a defensive specialist and she was outstanding. It's nice to have that flexibility."
Develle was named to the All-Tournament Team after Lehigh's 2-1 performance during the Crosstown Invitational.
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Crosstown Tournament All-Tournament Team:
Carolina Ruiz, Saint Peter's
Carly O'Sullivan, FDU
Katie Kidder, Lafayette
Emily Develle, Lehigh
Allison Impellizeri, Providence
Michelle Cruz, Providence
Team Stats
SPUVB
LEHIGH
Kills
20
46
Errors
12
23
Attempts
93
125
Hitting %
.086
.184
Points
30.0
57.0
Assists
16
39
Aces
2
6
Blocks
8.0
5.0
Game Leaders
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
8
Aces
2
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
MB
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