Lehigh ready to face Holy Cross Sunday at Grace Hall

Sunday, October 20

Bethlehem, Pa.

1:00 PM

Lehigh University

Holy Cross

Photo by: Josh Liddick

Lehigh ready to face Holy Cross Sunday at Grace Hall

10/18/2019 12:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Watch Live on the Patriot League Network (Free)Live Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Tuesday was an important night for the Lehigh volleyball team, picking up a key 3-0 victory at Loyola in Baltimore to snap a four-match losing streak. Heading into Sunday, the Mountain Hawks are 10-11 overall with a Patriot League record of 3-4. On Sunday, Lehigh hosts Holy Cross at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The last time at home, the Mountain Hawks dropped back-to-back matches to Colgate and then Army.

Lehigh will look to get back to .500 in the league against the Crusaders (3-17, 0-6 PL), who are still in search of their first league victory of the year. The Mountain Hawks used stellar performances from Julia Pressly (10 kills, .588 attack %), Hannah Wright (11 kills, nine digs) and Victoria Hemsath (four kills, four block assists) off the bench to beat the Greyhounds in straight sets, and they will look to use the same game-plan against Holy Cross.

Against Loyola, Lehigh it .447 in the third and final set with 18 kills and just one error, while Loyola hit 093 for the match. It was also one of the Mountain Hawks' best defensive performances of the season so far, as Jess Donaldson out-dug reigning libero of the year Katie Forsythe, 20-19, while the middle-blockers led the charge with 13 team blocks on the night.

Lauren Bright remains the team-leader in attack percentage with a mark of .362, while also leading the way with 75 blocks and 68 block assists. Sabrina Lancaster has 236 kills this year, hitting .227 on the season and averages 3.63 kills per set. Hannah Wright is second on the team with 191 kills, averaging 2.77 per set. Sarah Carman leads the way with 563 assists and is second on the team with 14 service aces. Allison Garrett and Sabrina Lancaster lead the pack with 160 and 151 digs, respectively. The Mountain Hawks are hitting .221 as a team this season with 12.2 kills per set, holding opponents to a mark of .215.

Holy Cross enters Sunday still searching for its first Patriot League victory of the season and are currently in the midst of a seven-match losing streak dating back to Sept. 21 at Dartmouth. Last weekend, the Crusaders fell in five sets to Lafayette in Easton on Friday night before falling in five at Bucknell Saturday. Katie Keirns leads the team with a .287 attack percentage, while Gracyn Benck has a team-high 167 kills, averaging 2.29 kills per set. Clare Honan is Holy Cross' leading blocker at 39, while Sophie VanSeveren has the team lead in digs with 320, averaging 4.27 digs per set. Shannon Dwyer and Kathleen Philo share the workload with assists with 413 and 257, respectively as the team's top setters.

So far in 2019, the Crusaders are hitting .164, allowing a .227 mark to opponents and average 11.4 kills per set. Against the Leopards last Friday, Holy Cross hit .361, its best mark of the season so far with 61 kills.

Lehigh leads the all-time series over Holy Cross, 42-13. The Mountain Hawks have lost just twice in 12 years to the Crusaders, most recently falling on Oct. 26 of last season in five sets at Grace Hall.

Sunday's match will be streamed live on the Patriot League network with coverage starting at 1 p.m.

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