Mountain Hawks Defeat Loyola to Earn Season Sweep

Friday, November 3

Baltimore, Md.

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

17-10, 8-5PL

Loyola

9-17, 3-10PL

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Lehigh	25	25	25	3
Loyola Maryland	22	16	22	0

Mountain Hawks Defeat Loyola to Earn Season Sweep

11/3/2017 9:51:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Mountain Hawks completed the first leg of their final four-match stretch with a convincing 3-0 victory at Loyola on Friday night to complete their fifth-straight season sweep over the Greyhounds. Lehigh maintains its spot in fourth place in the Patriot League standings and keeps its edge over Colgate and Bucknell with a league record of 8-5 and an overall record of 17-10. Loyola falls to 3-10 in league play and 9-17 overall.

Lauren Bright and Ana Spangenberg combined for 17 kills as Spangenberg led all players with 12 kills and Bright led all players with five blocks. Megan Polak posted a double-double with 31 assists and a team-leading 12 digs.

For the match, Lehigh hit .255, while Loyola hit .127 with 21 errors. The Mountain Hawks owned a 7-4 advantage in total blocks and a 41-36 margin in kills. Lehigh out-scored Loyola 52-42 on the night for a combined season margin of 127-101 in two matches.

The two sides played a very tight first set with Lehigh leading 15-14 at the media timeout on multiple key kills by Spangenberg combined with a few errors by the Greyhounds. Loyola took a 20-17 lead, but Lehigh countered with a 4-0 run started by a key kill by Bright. The teams swapped points down the stretch, but it was a block by Bright and Victoria Hemsath combined with a Bright service ace that sealed the 25-22 first set victory.

Lehigh came out strong to start the second set and carried the momentum into a 15-9 lead at the second set media timeout. The Mountain Hawks racked up eight kills on the opening run, led by three kills by Polak. The Greyhound errors piled up out of the break as Lehigh opened up a 20-11 advantage. Julia Pressly tallied two key kills late in the set and set Lehigh up for set point, which was clinched on a block by Polak and Bright for the 25-16 victory.

A back-and-forth battle ensued to start the third set before Lehigh opened up a 13-9 lead on a 5-0 run, aided by three-straight attack errors by Loyola. Spangenberg posted three big kills which helped open up an 18-12 lead. Pressly also aided the charge and forced a Loyola timeout as her kill put LU ahead 21-17. Following a kill by Claire Nagelhout and consecutive errors by Loyola, Lehigh was looking at match point up 24-19. The Greyhounds made things interesting by ripping off three-straight kills, but Spangenberg finally ended the match with a cross-court kill for the 25-22 victory.

Lehigh will return to action on Saturday with a return trip home to face American at 5 p.m.