Mountain Hawks fall to Loyola in four sets in home finale

Tuesday, November 12

Bethlehem, Pa.

7:00 PM

Lehigh University

13-16, 6-9PL

Loyola (MD)

13-16, 6-9PL

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Loyola	30	23	25	25	3
Lehigh	28	25	21	22	1

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Mountain Hawks fall to Loyola in four sets in home finale

11/12/2019 9:53:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In its final home match of the season, the Lehigh volleyball team fell to Loyola in four tightly-contested sets Tuesday night inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The visiting Greyhounds pulled out a 30-28 win in the first set and after the Mountain Hawks took the second 25-23, Loyola prevailed 25-21 and 25-22 in the final two sets.

Senior Emily Poole had 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage along with a season-high nine total blocks. Junior Hannah Wright led Lehigh 14 kills and added 11 digs for a double-double, while sophomore Alina Lam also registered a double-double, adding a season-high 16 digs to her 28 assists.

The win locked up a Patriot League Tournament berth for Loyola. Both teams stand at 13-16 overall and 6-9 in the Patriot League and both teams have secured a spot in the Patriot League Tournament. Lehigh and Loyola will enter their respective regular season finales tied for fifth in the league standings.

Lehigh held the largest lead of the opening set at 6-3 as the teams went back and forth past the 25-point threshold. Consecutive kills from Megan Bukala and Ann Ernst broke a 28-28 deadlock and gave Loyola the first set.

Set two featured more of the same, with Lehigh's largest lead being a 3-0 spurt to open the set and Loyola opening up an 18-15 lead at one point. The Mountain Hawks eventually got back-to-back solo blocks from senior Lauren Bright and Wright to win 25-23 and even the match at 1-1.

Loyola created some separation midway through the third set as an Ernst kill sparked a 5-0 run to put the Greyhounds up 17-12. A block by Poole brought Lehigh within one at 17-16, but the Greyhounds built a lead back up to four and went on to win 25-21.

Lehigh led 5-2 early in the fifth set but Loyola answered with a 15-3 run to go up 17-8. The Mountain Hawks showed resiliency, answering with a 9-0 run to tie the set at 17-17, including three blocks and a kill by Poole and two service aces by sophomore Ava Hudson. The teams went back and forth from there until an Ashley Dwyer kill sparked a 4-0 run to put Loyola up 24-21. A kill by Loyola's Abby Hamilton closed out the match for the Greyhounds.

Hamilton led Loyola with 21 kills and added 16 digs. Ernst added 19 kills and 23 digs, while Katie Forsythe had 26 digs to break her own Patriot League single season record.

Loyola hit .163 for the match, while Lehigh hit .130. The Mountain Hawks finished with 16 total blocks. In addition to Poole's nine, Bright and senior Julia Pressly each had a hand in five.

The Mountain Hawks will close out the regular season on Sunday when they visit Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. match. Lehigh will then play on the road in a Patriot League quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

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