Lehigh University Athletics
Sunday, October 20
Bethlehem, Pa.
1:00 PM
Lehigh University
11-11, 4-4PL
3
vs
0
Holy Cross
3-19, 0-8PL
1
2
3
F
Holy Cross
23
23
17
0
Lehigh
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Audra Smires
Balanced offensive attack gets Lehigh 3-0 home victory over Holy Cross
10/20/2019 4:01:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Behind a complete team performance and another impressive day blocking the ball, the Lehigh volleyball team held off Holy Cross Sunday afternoon, 3-0 to claim back-to-back Patriot League wins with eight matches remaining in the campaign. Lehigh improves to 11-11 overall with a league record of 4-4.
Nothing about Sunday's win was easy for the Mountain Hawks, who won narrowly in the first set despite taking the first four points of the first set. Trailing 11-10, the Crusaders won a point back off a Regan Wright service ace to tie the set at 11. Lehigh led, 15-10 at the media timeout, before the teams traded points from there forward. With a 16-14 lead, Lehigh took three straight capped off by two Wright attack errors causing the Crusaders to call a timeout. Holy Cross got within one at 22-21 before Julia Pressly used a kill from Jess Donaldson to take a 23-21 lead, which put the Crusaders on edge once again. Holy Cross tied things up at 23 while a combined effort with kills from Victoria Hemsath and Sabrina Lancaster ended up giving Lehigh a 25-23 first set victory.
The Mountain Hawks hit their best number of the match in the first set with 15 kills and a .242 attack percentage.
The second set was much of the same with Lehigh leading 15-13 at the media timeout. A back-and-forth affair had a kill from Lauren Bright and an attack error for the Crusaders put the Mountain Hawks on top once again, 25-23. Lehigh hit .205 for the set with 13 kills and just five total errors to go up on Holy Cross with a commanding 2-0 lead.
Lehigh went on a 10-6 run to open the third set and took four more points to force Holy Cross to take a timeout with a 14-7 lead. Out of the timeout, a block from Hemsath and Emily Poole followed by another Holy Cross attack error pushed the Lehigh lead to 16-7. With a 22-12 lead in the third set, the Crusaders won three straight points to trail by seven before two more points made it a 23-17 ballgame, causing Keckler to take a timeout. A Bright kill and a Lancaster kill ended it for Lehigh, taking the set 25-17 and the match, 3-0.
"Both teams were really aggressive today," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "There were a lot of long rallies so I thought there was good defense on both sides. The game changed for us today, we had a little more of a spread offense where we were able to score from both pins and out of our middles, I think that made a big difference.
"Ultimately I think we're starting to find ourselves in a good groove, we're connecting on the court, we're picking up more attacks and more kills and more swings, so I'm pretty comfortable and excited about where we are but there's still another round of Patriot League matches left to play where we need to go back and re-group."
Six players tallied at least five kills for Lehigh with Lancaster leading the charge with eight kills and nine digs. Poole added seven kills on 14 attempts for an attack percentage of .500 to go along with her six blocks. Hemsath had six kills on 10 attempts off the bench with two blocks, while Lauren Bright added three solo blocks with five kills in eight attempts for a mark of .500. Both setters, Alina Lam (17 assists, 11 digs) and Sarah Carman (16 assists, 11 digs) tallied double-doubles, as they both also led the way for the team in digs as well.
"Our depth has been one of our strengths all season, we have a lot of firepower," Keckler said. "We have such a nice depth within our offense that it's nice to be able to go to whoever we need to and get the points."
Lehigh ended up hitting .198 for the match with 39 kills and 11 total team blocks. They held the Crusaders to just a .090 mark and out-dug Holy Cross, 53-49.
The Mountain Hawks stay home for a pair of weekend matches coming up with Bucknell on Saturday and the second half of The Rivalry with Lafayette on Sunday afternoon.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Gallery: (10/20/2019) Volleyball vs. Holy Cross 10-20-2019
Nothing about Sunday's win was easy for the Mountain Hawks, who won narrowly in the first set despite taking the first four points of the first set. Trailing 11-10, the Crusaders won a point back off a Regan Wright service ace to tie the set at 11. Lehigh led, 15-10 at the media timeout, before the teams traded points from there forward. With a 16-14 lead, Lehigh took three straight capped off by two Wright attack errors causing the Crusaders to call a timeout. Holy Cross got within one at 22-21 before Julia Pressly used a kill from Jess Donaldson to take a 23-21 lead, which put the Crusaders on edge once again. Holy Cross tied things up at 23 while a combined effort with kills from Victoria Hemsath and Sabrina Lancaster ended up giving Lehigh a 25-23 first set victory.
The Mountain Hawks hit their best number of the match in the first set with 15 kills and a .242 attack percentage.
The second set was much of the same with Lehigh leading 15-13 at the media timeout. A back-and-forth affair had a kill from Lauren Bright and an attack error for the Crusaders put the Mountain Hawks on top once again, 25-23. Lehigh hit .205 for the set with 13 kills and just five total errors to go up on Holy Cross with a commanding 2-0 lead.
Lehigh went on a 10-6 run to open the third set and took four more points to force Holy Cross to take a timeout with a 14-7 lead. Out of the timeout, a block from Hemsath and Emily Poole followed by another Holy Cross attack error pushed the Lehigh lead to 16-7. With a 22-12 lead in the third set, the Crusaders won three straight points to trail by seven before two more points made it a 23-17 ballgame, causing Keckler to take a timeout. A Bright kill and a Lancaster kill ended it for Lehigh, taking the set 25-17 and the match, 3-0.
"Both teams were really aggressive today," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "There were a lot of long rallies so I thought there was good defense on both sides. The game changed for us today, we had a little more of a spread offense where we were able to score from both pins and out of our middles, I think that made a big difference.
"Ultimately I think we're starting to find ourselves in a good groove, we're connecting on the court, we're picking up more attacks and more kills and more swings, so I'm pretty comfortable and excited about where we are but there's still another round of Patriot League matches left to play where we need to go back and re-group."
Six players tallied at least five kills for Lehigh with Lancaster leading the charge with eight kills and nine digs. Poole added seven kills on 14 attempts for an attack percentage of .500 to go along with her six blocks. Hemsath had six kills on 10 attempts off the bench with two blocks, while Lauren Bright added three solo blocks with five kills in eight attempts for a mark of .500. Both setters, Alina Lam (17 assists, 11 digs) and Sarah Carman (16 assists, 11 digs) tallied double-doubles, as they both also led the way for the team in digs as well.
"Our depth has been one of our strengths all season, we have a lot of firepower," Keckler said. "We have such a nice depth within our offense that it's nice to be able to go to whoever we need to and get the points."
Lehigh ended up hitting .198 for the match with 39 kills and 11 total team blocks. They held the Crusaders to just a .090 mark and out-dug Holy Cross, 53-49.
The Mountain Hawks stay home for a pair of weekend matches coming up with Bucknell on Saturday and the second half of The Rivalry with Lafayette on Sunday afternoon.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
HC
LEHIGH
Kills
36
39
Errors
25
17
Attempts
122
111
Hitting %
.090
.198
Points
45.0
53.0
Assists
36
39
Aces
5
3
Blocks
4.0
11.0
Game Leaders
Kills
8
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
OH
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