Lehigh stays perfect at 7-0 with victory over NJIT

Tuesday, September 4

Newark, NJ

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

7-0

NJIT

1-6

Lehigh

NJIT

Lehigh stays perfect at 7-0 with victory over NJIT

9/4/2018 8:18:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. — Lehigh made runs in three straight sets to come away with the dominant 3-0 victory over NJIT Tuesday night. With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 7-0 for the first time since 1979.

The Mountain Hawks went up 2-0 after taking the first two sets 25-15 and 25-14. In the first set, Lehigh got out to an early 6-0 advantage, which turned into an 18-5 lead after a kill from sophomore Sabrina Lancaster. A kill by Hannah Wright and an NJIT attack error by Udo Nwosu gave Lehigh the 1-0 advantage heading into the second set.

With the Highlanders up 7-5 early in the second, back-to-back kills from Lancaster and Wright brought the momentum back in Lehigh's favor.

Up 12-10, the Mountain Hawks rattled off seven straight points to keep the pressure consistently on the Highlanders.

"I actually think our serving game was really on par all game long," head coach Alexa Keckler said. "We did a really nice job of taking advantage of the serving line.

"We really stayed calm throughout the match, there was an even excitement for us, but there weren't a whole lot of big runs on their end."

The third set was the tightest of the match, as the Highlanders made a push to get a set back on the Mountain Hawks.

NJIT was down 21-18 before three straight points made it 21-20 Lehigh late in the third. Kills from Victoria Hemsath, Wright and Lancaster helped seal the deal and guide the Mountain Hawks to victory.

"Sabrina Lancaster carried us both on the attack and defensively throughout. Megan Polak was in her element all game long, and Tori Hemsath came along in the third set and was a really nice addition for us late in the game," said Keckler.

Lancaster finished the game with 11 kills and nine digs, one short of a double-double. Hemsath, who played a big role in that deciding set, led the Mountain Hawks with a .571 hitting percentage. Wright added six kills and three digs to go along with her game-high four service aces.

Junior Lauren Bright finished with six blocks and senior Megan Polak played yet another standout game for Lehigh with 25 assists and 11 digs for her second double-double of the season.

The Mountain Hawks might be 7-0 to begin the campaign, but there are still ways to improve their game even when they are cruising at the moment.

"There's always room for improvement. The moment we show complacency out there is the moment we show weakness," Keckler said. "We need to keep working on our flow and rhythm of the offense and keep stepping up defensively.

"We did our job and went in and didn't falter so that was really cool to see happen."

The Mountain Hawks will have two days off before getting back to work Friday against Saint Francis at 12 p.m. in the opener of the Valley Forge Sports Invitational in Philadelphia. On Saturday, Lehigh will face Radford at 1:30 p.m. before closing the tournament against host Penn at 5 p.m.

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