Lehigh improves to 14-2 with five-set win over Holy Cross

Saturday, September 29

Worcester, MA

6:05 p.m.

Lehigh University

14-2, 3-1PL

Holy Cross

3-14, 2-2PL

Lehigh

Holy Cross

Lehigh improves to 14-2 with five-set win over Holy Cross

9/29/2018 9:54:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. — Coming from behind against a Patriot League opponent was the same story for the second night in a row, as it took the Mountain Hawks five sets to defeat Holy Cross on Saturday night to improve to 14-2 overall, 3-1 in the Patriot League.

Lehigh fell in the first set 27-25, before taking the second set, 25-23. The Crusaders won the third, 25-19 and then the Mountain Hawks answered back in the fourth set, 27-25 and headed for their fourth straight match that went to a fifth set. The team has had matches all season long where they are in control the whole match, or have to battle back in order to be victorious. As long as Lehigh plays to win and stays strong throughout, that's the key to victory.

"I would say that we need to win no matter what the situation is," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "Holy Cross was a tough serving, scrappy team and we kept grinding out points as we did all weekend.

"The Patriot League is very competitive and whatever the rhyme or reason is, we need to show up and play."

Holy Cross may be 3-14 on the season, but their 2-2 record in Patriot League play this year and the way they played Lehigh on Saturday night shows how every team in the league shouldn't be taken lightly.

"I absolutely think their record doesn't reflect their talent," said Keckler. "We played a very tough, competitive team out there tonight. We have to go into every match with the same mindset no matter what."

Sophomore Sabrina Lancaster led the Mountain Hawks in kills with 15. She added five digs and a block. Junior Lauren Bright had an impressive night, finishing with 11 kills, six blocks and only three errors, hitting .421 for the match. Sophomore Hannah Wright tallied 11 kills with six blocks and eight digs. Freshman setter Alina Lam, tallied her second straight double-double performance with a career-high 45 assists and a career-high 17 digs.

The Mountain Hawks hit .161 as a team for the match and limited the Crusaders to a .131 hitting night, including -.278 in the final set. Rachel Harding tallied 15 kills and 14 digs, while Regan Wright finished with 11 kills and 14 digs.

Overall, Lehigh has been blocking very well this season and its defense has kept them in many matches all season long. The offense is something that still needs improvements, and Keckler knows just how important working on that is moving forward.

"Offensive efficiency starts with passing and our hitters need to work on shot selection," said Keckler. "In the fifth set, we had two hitting errors which kept us from winning that set two points earlier. We just need to be willing to adjust and counter, and get better, but we're not doing it consistently."

Next up for the Mountain Hawks is the long-awaited rivalry game with Lafayette next Friday at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall at 7 p.m. For Keckler, it's her first taste at the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry and her team is ready to do what it takes to beat the Leopards.

"We're extremely excited to prepare for that," Keckler said. "Clearly that rivalry is a big one, and we are just going to continue to break down film, be better on Friday than we were this weekend and fine tune everything that we've been doing well already."

Next Friday's match will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.

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