Lehigh University Athletics
Friday, September 28
West Point, N.Y.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
13-2, 2-1PL
3
at
2
Army
6-10, 1-2PL
1st set1
2nd set2
3rd set3
4th set4
5th set5
FinalF
Lehigh
25
21
22
25
15
3
Army
23
25
25
23
10
2
Lehigh battles back to defeat Army for first time in three years
9/28/2018 10:53:00 PM | Volleyball
WEST POINT, N.Y. — The Mountain Hawks fought and continued to fight until they had nothing left to offer. Lehigh showed its resiliency in a five-set victory over Army West Point at Gillis Field House on Friday night. The win is Lehigh's first over Army since Nov. 14, 2015.
It appeared as if all hope was lost, as Army had taken a 2-1 lead after the Mountain Hawks claimed the first set, 25-23. All five sets were closely contested, but the first four were all about which team could manage to take advantage of key situations at in the right moment at the right time.
After dropping the first set to Lehigh, Army answered right back taking the second set, 25-21 and the third by a score of 25-22. But it was all Lehigh in the final two sets, capping off a highly competitive contest.
"It really was a point for point match," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "We gave up big runs to them; we weren't savvy enough and it made our jobs a lot harder throughout the match."
In the fourth, with the match all tied at 19 points each, the Mountain Hawks used two Black Knight errors to extend their lead to two. Three kills from sophomore Hannah Wright to close out the set sealed the deal heading into a big, fifth set. Wright had herself a game for the Mountain Hawks, finishing with a career-high 19 kills, five digs, and four blocks while hitting a team-high .326 for the match.
Sophomore Sabrina Lancaster also had a bounce-back game for the Mountain Hawks, getting right back on track with a 14 kill, 12 dig, and five block performance, good enough for the first double-double of her season, the third of her young career.
"Honestly, I think Hannah and Sabrina both did a really great job, but our setters and middles created those opportunities," Keckler said. "We attacked the gameplan that we had, and the zone that they thought was the weakest battled and competed all night."
Speaking of Lehigh's setters, freshman Alina Lam had herself a quite remarkable performance, tallying 30 assists and 17 digs in four sets. Senior Megan Polak added 10 assists and six digs in two sets played for the match.
Hitting-wise, the Mountain Hawks were led by Wright, but junior Emily Poole had six kills and 10 blocks on the night.
Army definitely played well for most of the night, thanks to a 22 kill, 14 dig night for Courtney Horace. Sydney Moriss finished with 16 kills, four digs, and five blocks and hit a team-high .364 for the match.
"Army did a really nice job running the right side," said Keckler. "Their hitters at the pins and middle really made it much more challenging to defend. I thought overall they did a really good job against us."
The Mountain Hawks have found themselves in many tough situations over the course of the last few weeks, especially going the distance in three straight matches.
"Now we've gone through three straight five-set matches and we kept putting ourselves in a good position to succeed," said Keckler.
"Our best hitters gave us the best opportunity to score. From rotation to rotation, we were able to limit our errors."
After the second win of the Patriot League schedule, Lehigh will make the journey up north to Worcester, Mass. for a 6 p.m. league battle with the Holy Cross Crusaders. Road trips like these can be very tough on the body, especially with not a whole lot of time to prepare for what's next.
"I think the first thing we need to do right now is get some sleep and some much-needed rest," said Keckler. "These road games are a battle. We know we have to bring our A-game no matter who we're playing both offensively and defensively."
Saturday evening's match against Holy Cross will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
It appeared as if all hope was lost, as Army had taken a 2-1 lead after the Mountain Hawks claimed the first set, 25-23. All five sets were closely contested, but the first four were all about which team could manage to take advantage of key situations at in the right moment at the right time.
After dropping the first set to Lehigh, Army answered right back taking the second set, 25-21 and the third by a score of 25-22. But it was all Lehigh in the final two sets, capping off a highly competitive contest.
"It really was a point for point match," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "We gave up big runs to them; we weren't savvy enough and it made our jobs a lot harder throughout the match."
In the fourth, with the match all tied at 19 points each, the Mountain Hawks used two Black Knight errors to extend their lead to two. Three kills from sophomore Hannah Wright to close out the set sealed the deal heading into a big, fifth set. Wright had herself a game for the Mountain Hawks, finishing with a career-high 19 kills, five digs, and four blocks while hitting a team-high .326 for the match.
Sophomore Sabrina Lancaster also had a bounce-back game for the Mountain Hawks, getting right back on track with a 14 kill, 12 dig, and five block performance, good enough for the first double-double of her season, the third of her young career.
"Honestly, I think Hannah and Sabrina both did a really great job, but our setters and middles created those opportunities," Keckler said. "We attacked the gameplan that we had, and the zone that they thought was the weakest battled and competed all night."
Speaking of Lehigh's setters, freshman Alina Lam had herself a quite remarkable performance, tallying 30 assists and 17 digs in four sets. Senior Megan Polak added 10 assists and six digs in two sets played for the match.
Hitting-wise, the Mountain Hawks were led by Wright, but junior Emily Poole had six kills and 10 blocks on the night.
Army definitely played well for most of the night, thanks to a 22 kill, 14 dig night for Courtney Horace. Sydney Moriss finished with 16 kills, four digs, and five blocks and hit a team-high .364 for the match.
"Army did a really nice job running the right side," said Keckler. "Their hitters at the pins and middle really made it much more challenging to defend. I thought overall they did a really good job against us."
The Mountain Hawks have found themselves in many tough situations over the course of the last few weeks, especially going the distance in three straight matches.
"Now we've gone through three straight five-set matches and we kept putting ourselves in a good position to succeed," said Keckler.
"Our best hitters gave us the best opportunity to score. From rotation to rotation, we were able to limit our errors."
After the second win of the Patriot League schedule, Lehigh will make the journey up north to Worcester, Mass. for a 6 p.m. league battle with the Holy Cross Crusaders. Road trips like these can be very tough on the body, especially with not a whole lot of time to prepare for what's next.
"I think the first thing we need to do right now is get some sleep and some much-needed rest," said Keckler. "These road games are a battle. We know we have to bring our A-game no matter who we're playing both offensively and defensively."
Saturday evening's match against Holy Cross will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
ARMY
Kills
55
73
Errors
19
35
Attempts
170
190
Hitting %
.212
.200
Points
72.0
90.0
Assists
53
70
Aces
2
7
Blocks
15.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Kills
19
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
10
Players Mentioned
OH
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