Poole leads Lehigh past Lafayette at home, 3-0

Friday, October 5

Bethlehem, Pa.

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

15-2, 4-1PL

Lafayette

5-12, 0-5PL

Lafayette

Lehigh

Photo by: Brent Hugo

Poole leads Lehigh past Lafayette at home, 3-0

10/5/2018 10:04:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Lehigh-Lafayette History

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Mountain Hawks had their way with rival Lafayette on Friday night, defeating the Leopards in a three-set sweep, 25-20, 26-24, 25-16. With the victory, Lehigh improves to 15-2 overall on the year, 4-1 in Patriot League play.

The first two sets were a little closer than head coach Alexa Keckler may have liked, but the team exploded in the third and final set, leading by as many as 22-10, before the Leopards won four of the last six points of the set until it was too late.

From Patriot League Rookie of the Week Alina Lam's 34th assist of the match, sophomore middle blocker Claire Nagelhout drove home the kill that sealed the deal for the Mountain Hawks.

"We talked a lot about just trying to stay mentally calm because of the rivalry and all of the big hoopla around," said Keckler. "I think there was a tension that we have to win this match, so we're really just trying to focus on being consistent, try to limit those unforced errors and really just get after it."

The Mountain Hawks got a gigantic boost from junior Emily Poole, who hit a season-high .615 mark with eight kills in 13 attempts with six blocks. With her performance, Poole increased her hitting percentage to a Patriot League leading .388 with 102 kills and took over the Patriot League lead in blocks with 82 to her credit. As is customary, junior Lauren Bright hit .333 alongside Poole, tallying seven kills, with two aces, three digs, and three blocks.

Lam had 34 assists with 12 digs for her fourth straight double-double, fifth overall this year. Sophomore Hannah Wright led the Mountain Hawks with nine kills, adding seven digs, and hit .222 for the match. She also added two block assists to aid Lehigh to the victory.

As a team, the Mountain Hawks hit .200 in the three sets, including a .250 hitting percentage in the third set. Lehigh limited the Leopards to just a .059 mark for the night, including a -.121 percentage in the final set. Grace Tulevech led the way for Lafayette in hitting with a .263 night, including seven kills and six digs.

With injuries to key players this season, Lehigh has done a fantastic job of stepping up when the team needs it the most this season. A large reason for the team's success this season has been the depth on the bench for Coach Keckler's roster, staying fresh, and getting the job done no matter what circumstances come up.

"When you're put into those situations (injuries), you have to start to figure it out, you don't have a choice," said Keckler. "For us, it was just a matter of our kids ready to step in, step up and we've got a couple kids right now who aren't playing that are very talented and it's a tough decision that we have to talk about all the time.

"I think our players have done a really nice job buying in and really working hard and supporting one another."

While the joy of beating Lafayette at home is sweet, the work this weekend is hardly over, as the Mountain Hawks now turn their attention to traveling to Bucknell on Sunday afternoon for a 2 p.m. match at Lewisburg.

"We need to stay more mentally tough (going into Bucknell)," Keckler said. "We gave up a lot of easy points in my opinion, we let some things drop that was kind of uncharacteristic of us, but hopefully we can bounce back and fix some of those things and be ready to go on Sunday, it doesn't any easier."

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