Mountain Hawks pull out spirited 3-2 win over Navy

Tuesday, November 7

Bethlehem, Pa.

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

18-11, 9-6PL

Navy

21-7, 11-4PL

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Navy	26	25	19	25	10	2
Lehigh	28	21	25	17	15	3

Mountain Hawks pull out spirited 3-2 win over Navy

11/7/2017 10:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Needing a strong final week of the regular season to help clinch a Patriot League Tournament berth, the Lehigh volleyball team started on a strong note as the Mountain Hawks picked up a thrilling 3-2 (28-26, 21-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-10) win over Navy on Tuesday evening at Leeman-Turner Arena. Lehigh trailed 13-8 in the first set before reeling off six straight points to take a lead, turning the tides in its favor for the set, and match. In doing so, the Mountain Hawks handed the Midshipmen just their fourth Patriot League loss of the season. Ana Spangenberg enjoyed a monster game with career highs in kills (26) and digs (15) while Julia Pressly had 15 kills, hitting a team-high 32.4 percent.

"They showed a tremendous amount of character and will to win," said Lehigh head coach Bob Bertucci. "I'm really proud of them. It took a lot for them to fight back the way they did. It was just tremendous. It was one of the most consistent Megan (Polack) has served all year, and it came when it really counted. We had some really standout players. Ana put in a really good performance, forcing Navy to have to make all sorts of adjustments. I thought our most consistent hitter for us was Julia; she kept finding ways to score points."

Megan Polack finished with 50 assists and 13 digs while Emily Develle recorded a game-high 22 digs. Lauren Bright posted a team-high seven blocks while Spangenberg also had four blocks and two assists, to go along with her double-double.

In the first set, Navy jumped out to early leads of 6-3, 8-4 and eventually 13-8, but the Mountain Hawks reeled off six straight points with Jess Donaldson serving to take a 14-13 lead. Navy later responded with four then three straight points of its own, taking a 23-19 advantage following a service ace. Trailing 24-20, the Mountain Hawks posted a 5-0 run, again with Donaldson serving. The teams went back-and-forth over the ensuing points until a Spangenberg kill and Navy attack error gave Lehigh the 28-26 first-set victory.

The Midshipmen again jumped out to leads of 10-6 and 13-9 in the second set, but Lehigh continued to fight back. The Mountain Hawks evened the score at 17, 18 and 19, but Navy broke the tie with four of the next five points to take 23-20 lead, on its way to the 25-21 set two win.

In the third set, a 4-0 Lehigh run, again with Donaldson serving, gave the Mountain Hawks an 8-5 advantage following a Spangenberg kill. Lehigh wouldn't trail the rest of the set. Navy pulled within one on two occasions (11-10, 12-11), but consecutive kills from Bright, Victoria Hemsath and Spangenberg gave the Mountain Hawks a 22-16 lead, on their way to the 25-19 set win and 2-1 match lead.

Navy broke open a close fourth set with three straight points to take a 13-10 lead, eventually extending its run to 5-1 to take a 15-11 advantage. Lehigh valiantly tried to come back, pulling as close as 17-15 and 18-6, but the Midshipmen closed the set on a 5-0 run to win, 25-17.

Like they had all night, the Mountain Hawks battled back in the fifth set. Despite trailing 6-3, the Mountain Hawks posted four of the next six points as a bad set pulled Lehigh within 8-7. Not long after, they reeled off seven consecutive points with Polack serving to take a 14-9 lead. The run began and ended with kills from Spangenberg. Two points later, an attack error gave Lehigh the thrilling 15-10 set win and 3-2 match victory.

"It was a well-fought match," said Bertucci. "Navy is a very good team. They don't give you a lot of points; you have to earn them. They saw how we were playing, they started tipping and throwing balls over which was giving us a lot of trouble in the fourth game and to the team's credit, they came back and didn't let that bother them. They came back and started running balls down in the fifth game."

Now 18-11 overall and 9-6 in Patriot League play, Lehigh currently stands alone in fourth place in the league standings, one half game against of Colgate (8-6). The Mountain Hawks will close out their regular season at Army West Point on Friday at 7 p.m.

"We still have to get ready for Army because we don't know what's going to happen with Colgate," said Bertucci. "They're on a six-game win streak right now. They can win two games and if that happens, we have to beat Army. We just had to take care of the game tonight, we did and that was great.