Third set aside, Mountain Hawks struggle to contain Army West Point

Friday, October 22

Bethlehem, Pa.

6 p.m.

Lehigh University

6-15,2-8Patriot

Army West Point

13-6,7-3Patriot

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Army West Point	25	25	23	25	3
Lehigh	18	21	25	19	1

Lehigh Spectator Protocol

Photo by: Brent Hugo

Third set aside, Mountain Hawks struggle to contain Army West Point

10/22/2021 9:55:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team battled back to win the third set, but Army West Point prevailed, 3-1 (18-25, 21-25, 25-23, 19-25) to earn the victory Friday night at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks (6-15, 2-8 PL) fell for the fourth consecutive match and head into Saturday's meeting with Colgate looking to get back on track.

It was the Black Knights (13-6, 7-3 PL) that got out to the early first set lead with a 12-6 run. Lehigh was able to cut the gap to as little as three, but Army pulled away by winning five of the last six points to claim the set, 25-18 and take a 1-0 lead.

Army looked to be in cruise control to begin the second set, going on an 8-2 push before the Mountain Hawks called timeout. Lehigh battled back to come within two points, but Army went on a 9-2 run to take a commanding 19-10 lead. The Mountain Hawks went on to win seven of eight to trail 20-17, but Army stuck around to take the second, 25-21.

Lehigh had to fight to stay ahead in the third set, going on a 12-6 push to open the set, before Army got back into a comfortable position to trail 14-11. After trailing for the entirety of the set to this point, the Black Knights took a 20-19 lead and led by as many as two points at 22-20. However, Lehigh went on a 5-1 run to end the third set to claim it, 25-23 and stay alive.

Looking to avoid getting to a fifth set and letting Lehigh back in, the Black Knights went on a tear to open the fourth, going from a 9-4 cushion, to 11-5 and eventually 16-7. The Mountain Hawks were able to close the gap to as little as four points, but Army kept composed and came away with the 25-19 victory and 3-1 match win.

Freshman Megan Schulte finished with a team-high 11 kills and six digs, adding three blocks to her stat-line. Sophomore Lylah Washington had nine kills and 11 digs, while senior Ava Hudson registered seven kills.

Freshman setter Makena Smith led the Mountain Hawks with 16 assists, with sophomore Sarah Burau adding 15. Freshman libero Kyleigh Brown recorded a team-high 13 digs.

Defensively, Lehigh had a total of 22 block assists and one solo block led by Sophia Meagher (5), Emily Stewart (5) and Sabrina Lancaster and Schulte with three each.

For Army, it was Savannah Bray that led the way with 15 kills, adding 14 digs. Diana Etheridge had a match-high 40 assists and Sayler Butters finished with a match-high 29 digs.

Lehigh hit just .054 on the night, hitting .119 in the third set victory. The Mountain Hawks out-blocked the Black Knights, 12-5.

The program will honor six student-athletes – four seniors (Alina Lam, Ava Hudson, Victoria Jepson, Sarah Carman) and two fifth-years (Hannah Wright, Sabrina Lancaster) – with a pre-match ceremony ahead of Lehigh's 2 p.m. match vs. Colgate on Saturday afternoon. The matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).

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