Lehigh takes Loyola five sets, comes away with 'huge' victory

Saturday, October 20

Baltimore, MD

2 p.m.

Lehigh University

17-5, 6-4PL

Loyola (Md.)

11-12, 6-4PL

Lehigh

Loyola Maryland

Photo by: Josh Liddick

Lehigh takes Loyola five sets, comes away with 'huge' victory

10/20/2018 9:33:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BALTIMORE — The Mountain Hawks needed a win and they got just that on Saturday in a five-set victory over Loyola Maryland, 25-16, 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12. The win is Lehigh's second of the season against the Greyhounds and also snaps a three-match losing streak.

Additionally, the Mountain Hawks handed Loyola its first loss in five matches.

After falling to Navy in straight sets on Friday night, the Mountain Hawks got exactly what they needed: a dominant first set that set the tone for the rest of the day.

It went back and forth for the rest of the match before Lehigh had the final say in the fifth set.

Junior Emily Poole led Lehigh with yet another incredible performance, finishing with 12 kills and 10 blocks for a double-double. Poole also hit .333 for the match. Sophomore Hannah Wright added 11 kills, 12 digs and nine blocks, narrowly missing the rare triple-double. Junior Julia Pressly tallied 10 kills with five digs, while freshman Alina Lam finished with 37 assists, 13 digs and three blocks. Senior Emily Develle finished with 27 digs and seven assists for the match.

The Mountain Hawks finished the day with a .153 hitting percentage, while Loyola hit .124. While Lehigh talled 13 service errors, the team limited the amount of attack errors for the match to only 19, while Loyola had 38.

Ann Ernst led the Greyhounds with 17 kills and 19 digs, while Abby Hamilton had 14 kills and 14 digs. Haley Puddy finished with 16 kills, two digs and two blocks, while Alex Fisher tallied 18 assists and 17 digs. Katie Forsythe had 37 digs to go along with her nine assists.

For the Mountain Hawks, the win is a big one in terms of Patriot League standings with Lehigh holding the tiebreaker for the third seed over Loyola. After falling to American, Colgate and Navy, a win over a surging team like Loyola is something that is surely going to be a motivator going forward.

"This was a huge match for us to pull out and win," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "Our passing was key to our victory today. The ability to run a full offense was extremely important and Loyola clearly has a strong libero (Katie Forsythe) so we knew we had to bring it offensively.

"We knew it was going to be a battle and after last night's disappointing loss, our players did an amazing job bouncing back. We did a great job staying consistent throughout the match and honestly, our team knew what was on the line and they worked hard for it. The road ahead continues to be challenging but coming out victorious today is a really big deal."

With the win, Lehigh improves to 17-5 overall, 6-4 in the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks return home next weekend with a match against Holy Cross on Friday night and Army on Saturday night for Senior Night.

Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.