Lancaster's 18 kills not enough as Lehigh drops home contest to Army West Point

Saturday, October 12

Bethlehem, Pa.

4:00 PM

Lehigh University

9-11, 2-4PL

Army West Point

13-6, 4-2PL

Army

Lehigh

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Lancaster's 18 kills not enough as Lehigh drops home contest to Army West Point

10/13/2019 12:03:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — It was another tough result for the Lehigh volleyball team on Saturday afternoon, as the Mountain Hawks fell in straight sets to Army West Point at Grace Hall, 19-25, 23-25, 21-25. Lehigh has now lost four straight matches dating back to Sept. 28 at Bucknell and have dropped 12 consecutive sets dating back to the very same match. The Mountain Hawks are now 9-11 overall with a 2-4 Patriot League record.

The Mountain Hawks started the first set off with a bang, going on a 7-2 run to open the set capped off by a Lauren Bright unassisted kill. However, the Black Knights went on a 9-0 run to take an 11-7 lead, forcing Lehigh to call a timeout. The teams traded blows before Army held on for the 25-19 set victory. Despite the outcome, Lehigh did hit a team-high .286 in the first set with 14 kills. The Black Knights hit a match-high .419 in the first with 15 kills and only two errors as a team.

Lehigh played with a lead once again, this time in the second set, leading 11-8 at one point before Army took three consecutive points to tie the set at 11. Lehigh kept trading paint, leading 18-17 after a Courtney Horace attack error before kills from Monica Eckford and Horace put Army back up, 19-18. Leading 23-22 in the set, the Mountain Hawks forced Army to call a timeout, but the Black Knights took the final three points to run away with a 25-23 victory and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

For the fourth straight match, Lehigh found itself in an 0-2 hole after the first two sets and needed to scratch and claw its way back into contention.

However, it was all Army West Point to open the decisive third set, claiming 10 straight points to open the set with a 10-0 lead. The Mountain Hawks ended up battling all the way back to pull within four points, 24-20 before the Black Knights called timeout, but Monica Eckford ended it two points later to give Army the 25-21 third set victory and the win on Saturday afternoon.

"I think overall, it's a matter of knowing that our season isn't over yet," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "So that's the thing, we need to get back to work tomorrow. We gotta come in and think about how we're going to be better tomorrow.

"At least there were sparks of fight and grittiness against Colgate last night and Army today and if we can just get a little bit more of that every time we step onto the floor for every point, we'll be OK. We're six matches in now and there's still a big chunk of league play left, we can't roll over, we're still alive. I want us to fight and keep grinding through. Look, we just need to peak at the right time."

Sabrina Lancaster had one of her stellar performances on the afternoon for Lehigh, leading all players on the court with 18 kills and a .405 attack percentage. Julia Pressly added seven kills, Bright had five while Emily Poole and Hannah Wright chipped in four kills. Wright led the team in digs with 10, while Sarah Carman finished with 22 assists, Alina Lam had 13. The Mountain Hawks ended up hitting .204 for the match, significantly lower than Army's .274.

Lehigh will attempt to re-group and hope to snap its four-match losing streak when the Mountain Hawks head to Baltimore to face Loyola Maryland on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. That matchup will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.

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