Lehigh Wraps Up Crosstown Invitational with Saturday Split

Saturday, September 2

Bethlehem, Pa.

10 a.m.

Lehigh University

3-3

Central Connecticut State

3-2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Central Conn. Sate	25	25	21	17	18	3
Lehigh	22	21	25	25	16	2

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Norfolk State	21	10	17	0
Lehigh	25	25	25	3

Lehigh Wraps Up Crosstown Invitational with Saturday Split

9/2/2017 7:33:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks closed out the Crosstown Invitational with a Saturday split to finish with a record of 2-1 on the weekend. Lehigh nearly pulled off a comeback in a five-set loss to Central Connecticut State in the morning match before sweeping Norfolk State in the afternoon contest.

Ana Spangenberg led the offense with a combined 31 kills on the day with a .365 hitting percentage, including a career-high 20 kills in the first day match of the day. Middle blocker Lauren Bright had another stellar all-around performance as she led the team with 10 total blocks on the day, while posting 18 kills and a .317 hitting percentage.

Libero Emily Develle led with 34 total digs on the day. Setter Mega Polak posted a team-best 73 total assists to go along with a .588 hitting percentage and 10 total kills.

Lehigh (4-3) fell in two closely-contested sets to start the match with Central Connecticut State (3-2) as the Blue Devils claimed victories of 25-22 and 25-21. LU turned the tables in the third and posted a 25-21 victory. Emily Poole led LU with four kills and four total blocks in the third with a .667 hitting percentage. The Mountain Hawks carried the momentum into the fourth set and claimed a 25-17 victory behind a six-kill performance by Spangenberg and a .385 team hitting percentage.

Lehigh had the momentum at the beginning of the fifth set after heading out to a 5-2 lead, but CCSU responded and took a 7-6 lead. Facing a 14-13 deficit, Lehigh avoided defeat and extended the set following back-to-back kills by Spangenberg to go ahead 15-14. Spangenberg provided another kill later to put LU ahead 16-15, but the Blue Devils posted two kills and received help from a Lehigh setting error to claim the final three points of the set to win the match.

The Brown and White opened up a comfortable 10-5 lead over Norfolk State (1-3) to start the first set, but the Spartans chipped away and pulled within one point of a tie on two separate occasions, including a 22-21 deficit. After a setting error by the Spartans, Lehigh polished off the set with a Spangenberg kill and a service ace by Allison Garrett.

The Mountain Hawks dominated the second set as they hit .367 collectively while holding Norfolk Sate to -.125. Sabrina Lancaster was the big performer in the set as she posted six kills on a .857 hitting percentage to lead Lehigh to a 25-10 win.

The attacking woes continued for Norfolk in the third set as the Spartans posted a .038 attack percentage. Lehigh pulled away late in the set, aided by a six-kill performance by Spangenberg, to clinch the 25-17 set win and match victory.

Lehigh will hit the road for the first time this season with a trip to the TCU Invitational next weekend. The Mountain Hawks open play Friday against Utah Valley.