Lehigh University Athletics
Friday, October 11
Bethlehem, Pa.
7:00 PM
Lehigh University
9-10, 2-3PL
0
vs
3
Colgate
12-5,5-0PL
1
2
3
F
Colgate
25
25
25
3
Lehigh
22
15
17
0
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Pressly tallies 800th kill as Lehigh falls to Colgate
10/11/2019 10:33:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — After falling in back-to-back matches last weekend against American and then Navy, it was much of the same story for the Lehigh volleyball team, dropping a straight-set outcome to Colgate Friday night at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall, 22-25, 15-25, 17-25. With the defeat, the Mountain Hawks drop to 9-10 overall with a 2-3 record in Patriot League play, while the Raiders get to 12-5, remaining perfect in league action at 5-0. The loss also snaps Lehigh's five-match win streak at home and is the team's third consecutive loss.
Lehigh never really found itself in control at any point during the matchup, needing to play catch-up right out of the gate in the first set. Colgate rolled out to a 4-1 lead before a Julia Pressly kill and Jess Donaldson service ace brought the deficit back to 4-3. Trailing 6-4, Lehigh won four straight points to take an 8-6 lead before Colgate and Lehigh traded blows. The Mountain Hawks led 17-13, causing the Raiders to call timeout, but Colgate ended the set on a 6-2 run to take it, 25-22.
Colgate controlled every aspect of the second set, as Lehigh never led for most of the set after taking an early 2-1 lead. The Mountain Hawks came close at certain points on smaller runs, but the Raiders claimed eight of the last nine points to win it, 25-15 and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
In the third set with the score tied at 2, this particular Raiders run was the game-changer for both teams, as Colgate won 10 straight points to take a 12-2 lead. Lehigh had two separate runs of four straight points won to cut the gap to 16-12, but the fight wasn't enough as the Raiders ended up going on a 9-5 run to win the set, 25-17 and the match, 3-0.
"Ultimately, I'd say that we came in fired up and we competed a lot more than we did last weekend," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "So I'm really proud of that. They competed, they didn't give up, they kept fighting regardless of the score.
"We just couldn't seem to find everyone on the same page at the same time, we need to have more hitters producing right now than just one person. I thought Colgate played some good defense, but I also think we could've found different ways to be effective than we did."
For Lehigh, Hannah Wright led the way with 11 kills, adding nine digs to her credit. Lauren Bright had five kills and two total blocks, while Ava Hudson, Emily Poole and Sarah Carman each recorded two kills. Donaldson finished with 10 digs as the starting libero with three assists and three service aces. Carman finished her night with 28 assists. The Mountain Hawks hit .176 as a team including a match-high .270 in the third set. Lehigh out-blocked Colgate, 7-4 with solo blocks for Bright, Poole and Sabrina Lancaster.
A milestone was achieved on the court Friday night, as senior Julia Pressly became just the 15th player in program history to notch her 800th career kill. Pressly finished the night with six kills and hit .357 for the match.
"Julia has worked really hard to get where she's at now," said Keckler. "We made an adjustment with her and I know that was tough to swallow at first, but this week she's really decided that she's going to embrace it and go.
"Tonight's match is just evidence that she can hit fantastic on the right side when she wants to go and get it. I'm really proud of her from that standpoint and getting her job done and making a conscious effort to be a presence on the court and I thought she did a really good job of that."
After the loss, Lehigh now trails Colgate in the all-time series, 42-19 with the Raiders winning the last four matchups dating back to Oct. 21, 2017.
The Mountain Hawks will have to re-focus themselves with a quick turnaround as Lehigh hosts Army West Point tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. at Grace Hall. There will be adjustments that will need to be made heading into the final match of the weekend, but the Mountain Hawks are up to the task.
"I think the biggest thing for us right now is that we have a couple players we need to get into the mix all the time and be consistent," Keckler said. "If we can do that, we're pretty talented, there's just a few tweaks we can make.
"The other thing I would say is that we're fully capable of doing our job, we just need to remember what we've been working on all week and figure out ways to execute it."
Saturday's match with the Black Knights 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.
Gallery: (10/11/2019) Volleyball vs. Colgate, 10/11/19
Lehigh never really found itself in control at any point during the matchup, needing to play catch-up right out of the gate in the first set. Colgate rolled out to a 4-1 lead before a Julia Pressly kill and Jess Donaldson service ace brought the deficit back to 4-3. Trailing 6-4, Lehigh won four straight points to take an 8-6 lead before Colgate and Lehigh traded blows. The Mountain Hawks led 17-13, causing the Raiders to call timeout, but Colgate ended the set on a 6-2 run to take it, 25-22.
Colgate controlled every aspect of the second set, as Lehigh never led for most of the set after taking an early 2-1 lead. The Mountain Hawks came close at certain points on smaller runs, but the Raiders claimed eight of the last nine points to win it, 25-15 and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
In the third set with the score tied at 2, this particular Raiders run was the game-changer for both teams, as Colgate won 10 straight points to take a 12-2 lead. Lehigh had two separate runs of four straight points won to cut the gap to 16-12, but the fight wasn't enough as the Raiders ended up going on a 9-5 run to win the set, 25-17 and the match, 3-0.
"Ultimately, I'd say that we came in fired up and we competed a lot more than we did last weekend," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "So I'm really proud of that. They competed, they didn't give up, they kept fighting regardless of the score.
"We just couldn't seem to find everyone on the same page at the same time, we need to have more hitters producing right now than just one person. I thought Colgate played some good defense, but I also think we could've found different ways to be effective than we did."
For Lehigh, Hannah Wright led the way with 11 kills, adding nine digs to her credit. Lauren Bright had five kills and two total blocks, while Ava Hudson, Emily Poole and Sarah Carman each recorded two kills. Donaldson finished with 10 digs as the starting libero with three assists and three service aces. Carman finished her night with 28 assists. The Mountain Hawks hit .176 as a team including a match-high .270 in the third set. Lehigh out-blocked Colgate, 7-4 with solo blocks for Bright, Poole and Sabrina Lancaster.
A milestone was achieved on the court Friday night, as senior Julia Pressly became just the 15th player in program history to notch her 800th career kill. Pressly finished the night with six kills and hit .357 for the match.
With six tonight against Colgate, senior Julia Pressly has officially reached the 8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ kill mark, just the 15th player in program history to hit that milestone. Congrats, Julia! 👏 #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/LdIGfdqFHy
— Lehigh Volleyball (@LehighVBall) October 12, 2019
"Julia has worked really hard to get where she's at now," said Keckler. "We made an adjustment with her and I know that was tough to swallow at first, but this week she's really decided that she's going to embrace it and go.
"Tonight's match is just evidence that she can hit fantastic on the right side when she wants to go and get it. I'm really proud of her from that standpoint and getting her job done and making a conscious effort to be a presence on the court and I thought she did a really good job of that."
After the loss, Lehigh now trails Colgate in the all-time series, 42-19 with the Raiders winning the last four matchups dating back to Oct. 21, 2017.
The Mountain Hawks will have to re-focus themselves with a quick turnaround as Lehigh hosts Army West Point tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. at Grace Hall. There will be adjustments that will need to be made heading into the final match of the weekend, but the Mountain Hawks are up to the task.
"I think the biggest thing for us right now is that we have a couple players we need to get into the mix all the time and be consistent," Keckler said. "If we can do that, we're pretty talented, there's just a few tweaks we can make.
"The other thing I would say is that we're fully capable of doing our job, we just need to remember what we've been working on all week and figure out ways to execute it."
Saturday's match with the Black Knights 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
COLGATE
LEHIGH
Kills
51
33
Errors
13
14
Attempts
117
108
Hitting %
.325
.176
Points
60.0
44.0
Assists
47
32
Aces
5
4
Blocks
4.0
7.0
Game Leaders
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballRS/OH
/ VolleyballVolleyball vs. Holy Cross
Saturday, November 08
VB vs. Loyola
Friday, October 10
Volleyball vs. American
Saturday, October 04
Mountain Hawk Talk - S2 EP2 - Volleyball
Friday, September 26
