Friday, September 20
Charlottesville, Va.
10:00 AM
Lehigh University
3
vs
1
Elon
Photo by: Brent Hugo
Lehigh stymies Elon, falls to Virginia to begin Jefferson Cup weekend
9/20/2019 9:58:00 PM | Volleyball
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The first day of the Jefferson Cup Friday for Lehigh volleyball was filled with ups-and-downs, as the Mountain Hawks started the day off with a convincing 3-1 victory over Elon (25-16, 14-25, 25-22, 25-22) but was followed by a tough straight-set loss to host Virginia (14-25, 17-25, 18-25) in the nightcap. After the pair of matches, Lehigh falls to 6-7 on the season with just one non-league match remaining on the schedule before Patriot League play begins next weekend.
Lehigh came out of the gate rolling in the first set against Elon, taking it 25-16. The Mountain Hawks didn't struggle to earn points in the first set, evident by their .459 attack percentage, executing on 19 of their 37 total attacks in the first set. Despite hitting .333 in the second, the Mountain Hawks fell hard, 25-14 to the Phoenix. Lehigh took the final two sets by identical scores of 25-22, earning the hard-fought victory and coming out of the first match with a positive attitude and demeanor heading into the final match of the day. With the win, the Mountain Hawks snapped their three-match losing streak.
"I definitely thought we found a groove, we found ways to score from multiple hitters," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "I thought Sarah (Carman) did a great job of distributing the ball and our defense and serve receive was definitely at a better place in the Elon match, certainly translated into a more effective offense.
"I thought that we played with a ton of passion and heart minus the second set which we let off the gas a little bit, but after the first set, we thought it was going to be a little easier, but Elon is a pretty good team, they kept coming back at us."
Four of Lehigh's starting seven players had 10 or more kills, led by Julia Pressly (14), Lauren Bright (13), Hannah Wright (10) and Sabrina Lancaster (19). Bright hit .611 for the match, headlined by her 13 kills in 18 attacks and also added six block assists to her credit. Pressly hit .480, while Lancaster hit .348 and Hudson .308 with five kills.
"As you can see, it makes a huge difference when those players are all on and finding the floor and creating opportunities to score," said Keckler. "I think ultimately the more hitters we have on their game, the easier it is for them to be successful.
Freshman libero Natalie Mavroidis led the way with 15 digs, while sophomore setter Sarah Carman had a career-high 51 assists. This is the second game of the season in which Carman registered 50 or more assists in a match.
"When our passing is on, Sarah can get all of our hitters engaged," Keckler said. "She makes great decisions and certainly has taken the feedback from our staff and has really applied that to her game, which is evident when all our hitters are playing with the same intensity.
"There are so many parts of our game that are dependent upon another and for her to be successful in her job, she needs to get everyone engaged."
Virginia proved to be another tall order for Lehigh on Friday night, which the Mountain Hawks were unable to do anything with, falling to 0-3 in away matches this season and 0-3 against teams from power conferences. The Mountain Hawks struggled to pass the ball and play counter to Virginia's strengths during the match, hitting sub-zero in the first set with five kills and six errors on 24 attacks. Lehigh hit better in the second set, but only managed to hit .179 with 11 kills and then .100 in the final set with seven kills on 30 attacks. The Cavaliers had its number for the entirety of the contest and didn't let up through three straight sets. Virginia ended up finishing with seven service aces to Lehigh's one and out-digged the Mountain Hawks, 54-44.
"Virginia was bringing it from the service line so they were tough on that end," said Keckler. "But they had a couple very strong attackers that we had a very hard time containing, so for a while, they were pretty much siding out every time we served so we weren't able to hold the ball and get some runs.
"With each set, we definitely progressed and held them off longer and forced them to take timeouts and those are some things that I think showed that we were adjusting and definitely raising the level of our game and it's all excellent preparation for us heading into next weekend."
Lancaster led the way with six kills, while Ava Hudson had five, Emily Poole with four. Carman registered her third double-double of the season with her 20 assist, 10 dig performance from the field. Bright continued to hit the ball well, going 3-for-5 from the floor for a .600 attack percentage with two block assists. She is hitting .439 on the year with 40 total blocks and 72 kills.
Lehigh will take on UNC Greensboro on Saturday with a chance to finish the Jefferson Cup tournament with a winning record heading into Patriot League play next Friday at Lafayette. The Mountain Hawks' matchup kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Gym.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh came out of the gate rolling in the first set against Elon, taking it 25-16. The Mountain Hawks didn't struggle to earn points in the first set, evident by their .459 attack percentage, executing on 19 of their 37 total attacks in the first set. Despite hitting .333 in the second, the Mountain Hawks fell hard, 25-14 to the Phoenix. Lehigh took the final two sets by identical scores of 25-22, earning the hard-fought victory and coming out of the first match with a positive attitude and demeanor heading into the final match of the day. With the win, the Mountain Hawks snapped their three-match losing streak.
"I definitely thought we found a groove, we found ways to score from multiple hitters," said head coach Alexa Keckler. "I thought Sarah (Carman) did a great job of distributing the ball and our defense and serve receive was definitely at a better place in the Elon match, certainly translated into a more effective offense.
"I thought that we played with a ton of passion and heart minus the second set which we let off the gas a little bit, but after the first set, we thought it was going to be a little easier, but Elon is a pretty good team, they kept coming back at us."
Four of Lehigh's starting seven players had 10 or more kills, led by Julia Pressly (14), Lauren Bright (13), Hannah Wright (10) and Sabrina Lancaster (19). Bright hit .611 for the match, headlined by her 13 kills in 18 attacks and also added six block assists to her credit. Pressly hit .480, while Lancaster hit .348 and Hudson .308 with five kills.
"As you can see, it makes a huge difference when those players are all on and finding the floor and creating opportunities to score," said Keckler. "I think ultimately the more hitters we have on their game, the easier it is for them to be successful.
Freshman libero Natalie Mavroidis led the way with 15 digs, while sophomore setter Sarah Carman had a career-high 51 assists. This is the second game of the season in which Carman registered 50 or more assists in a match.
"When our passing is on, Sarah can get all of our hitters engaged," Keckler said. "She makes great decisions and certainly has taken the feedback from our staff and has really applied that to her game, which is evident when all our hitters are playing with the same intensity.
"There are so many parts of our game that are dependent upon another and for her to be successful in her job, she needs to get everyone engaged."
Virginia proved to be another tall order for Lehigh on Friday night, which the Mountain Hawks were unable to do anything with, falling to 0-3 in away matches this season and 0-3 against teams from power conferences. The Mountain Hawks struggled to pass the ball and play counter to Virginia's strengths during the match, hitting sub-zero in the first set with five kills and six errors on 24 attacks. Lehigh hit better in the second set, but only managed to hit .179 with 11 kills and then .100 in the final set with seven kills on 30 attacks. The Cavaliers had its number for the entirety of the contest and didn't let up through three straight sets. Virginia ended up finishing with seven service aces to Lehigh's one and out-digged the Mountain Hawks, 54-44.
"Virginia was bringing it from the service line so they were tough on that end," said Keckler. "But they had a couple very strong attackers that we had a very hard time containing, so for a while, they were pretty much siding out every time we served so we weren't able to hold the ball and get some runs.
"With each set, we definitely progressed and held them off longer and forced them to take timeouts and those are some things that I think showed that we were adjusting and definitely raising the level of our game and it's all excellent preparation for us heading into next weekend."
Lancaster led the way with six kills, while Ava Hudson had five, Emily Poole with four. Carman registered her third double-double of the season with her 20 assist, 10 dig performance from the field. Bright continued to hit the ball well, going 3-for-5 from the floor for a .600 attack percentage with two block assists. She is hitting .439 on the year with 40 total blocks and 72 kills.
Lehigh will take on UNC Greensboro on Saturday with a chance to finish the Jefferson Cup tournament with a winning record heading into Patriot League play next Friday at Lafayette. The Mountain Hawks' matchup kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Gym.
Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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