Wednesday, September 7
Bethlehem, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
6-1,0-0Patriot
3
vs
0
Saint Peter's
0-8,0-0MAAC
1
2
3
F
Saint Peter's
10
20
11
0
Lehigh
25
25
25
3
Lehigh's Youth Shines In Wednesday Sweep Of Saint Peter's
9/7/2022 8:52:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh volleyball team scored the first eight points of the first set and never looked back as the Mountain Hawks cruised to their third straight win, 3-0 over Saint Peter's Wednesday night inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Set scores were 25-10, 25-20 and 25-11 as the Mountain Hawks improved to 6-1 on the season.
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First-year Natalie Luscomb led Lehigh with 10 kills and hit a blistering .533. Sophomore Gracie Kiser added seven kills and six digs. As a team Lehigh hit .361 while limiting Saint Peter's to .129.
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"It was an excellent match, kind of a feel-good match," Lehigh head coach Alexa Keckler said. "The girls played well. They served tough, which was good. We got some of our younger players some experience on the court which we've been wanting to do and so I think having them step on the court and get a little more confident will help going into the weekend."Â
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Lehigh's match-opening 8-0 run was capped by back-to-back service aces by first-year Drew Brown which led to a quick Saint Peter's timeout. The Mountain Hawks built leads of 14-3 and then 20-7 and eventually cemented the 25-10 set win behind kills from sophomores Makena Smith and Megan Schulte. Lehigh hit a blistering .520 in the opening set.
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Keckler juggled her lineup in set two and Saint Peter's showed a spark, building four point leads on three occasions. Four straight Mountain Hawk points were part of an 8-2 run as Lehigh went ahead 16-14 on a kill by Luscomb. With the set tied at 17-17 Lehigh went back in front on a Saint Peter's service error and then a kill by first-year Dakota Hartman and would not relinquish the lead. The Mountain Hawks won the final four points of the set to claim a 25-20 win and a 2-0 match advantage.
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In set three a block by first-years Arden Below and Madison McCartney capped a 5-0 Lehigh run to give the Mountain Hawks an 8-4 lead. The lead ballooned to 14-6 behind a 6-1 run that featured a pair of Below service aces. A Kiser kill gave Lehigh a 20-10 advantage and started a 6-1 Lehigh run to close out the match. Junior Alina Smith closed things out with her third kill of the night to give Lehigh the sweep. Â
"Gracie (Kiser) did a great job," Keckler said. "She had much more control over her serve and her attacking today than she did on Saturday and that's something we've talked about the last two practices so I was really happy to see her take that and run with it. "Natalie also did a really good job. Again, the last two days we've spent a lot of time sort of fine tuning some things that we struggled with over the weekend and it was really nice to see them trying to implement it and recognizing when they did it and when they didn't do it and that's shown a lot of growth so I'm excited for that."
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Makena Smith had a match-high 23 assists, while Drew Brown led Lehigh with seven digs. Luscomb added a team-best three blocks.
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Mackenzie Tucker led Saint Peter's (0-8) with six kills and seven digs.
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The Mountain Hawks will next head to Hanover, N.H. for the two-day Dartmouth Invitational. Lehigh will face Hartford (10:30 a.m.) and host Dartmouth (6:30 p.m.) on Friday before wrapping up the tournament against Merrimack (3 p.m.) on Saturday. All three Lehigh matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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First-year Natalie Luscomb led Lehigh with 10 kills and hit a blistering .533. Sophomore Gracie Kiser added seven kills and six digs. As a team Lehigh hit .361 while limiting Saint Peter's to .129.
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"It was an excellent match, kind of a feel-good match," Lehigh head coach Alexa Keckler said. "The girls played well. They served tough, which was good. We got some of our younger players some experience on the court which we've been wanting to do and so I think having them step on the court and get a little more confident will help going into the weekend."Â
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Lehigh's match-opening 8-0 run was capped by back-to-back service aces by first-year Drew Brown which led to a quick Saint Peter's timeout. The Mountain Hawks built leads of 14-3 and then 20-7 and eventually cemented the 25-10 set win behind kills from sophomores Makena Smith and Megan Schulte. Lehigh hit a blistering .520 in the opening set.
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Keckler juggled her lineup in set two and Saint Peter's showed a spark, building four point leads on three occasions. Four straight Mountain Hawk points were part of an 8-2 run as Lehigh went ahead 16-14 on a kill by Luscomb. With the set tied at 17-17 Lehigh went back in front on a Saint Peter's service error and then a kill by first-year Dakota Hartman and would not relinquish the lead. The Mountain Hawks won the final four points of the set to claim a 25-20 win and a 2-0 match advantage.
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In set three a block by first-years Arden Below and Madison McCartney capped a 5-0 Lehigh run to give the Mountain Hawks an 8-4 lead. The lead ballooned to 14-6 behind a 6-1 run that featured a pair of Below service aces. A Kiser kill gave Lehigh a 20-10 advantage and started a 6-1 Lehigh run to close out the match. Junior Alina Smith closed things out with her third kill of the night to give Lehigh the sweep. Â
"Gracie (Kiser) did a great job," Keckler said. "She had much more control over her serve and her attacking today than she did on Saturday and that's something we've talked about the last two practices so I was really happy to see her take that and run with it. "Natalie also did a really good job. Again, the last two days we've spent a lot of time sort of fine tuning some things that we struggled with over the weekend and it was really nice to see them trying to implement it and recognizing when they did it and when they didn't do it and that's shown a lot of growth so I'm excited for that."
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Makena Smith had a match-high 23 assists, while Drew Brown led Lehigh with seven digs. Luscomb added a team-best three blocks.
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Mackenzie Tucker led Saint Peter's (0-8) with six kills and seven digs.
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The Mountain Hawks will next head to Hanover, N.H. for the two-day Dartmouth Invitational. Lehigh will face Hartford (10:30 a.m.) and host Dartmouth (6:30 p.m.) on Friday before wrapping up the tournament against Merrimack (3 p.m.) on Saturday. All three Lehigh matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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Like Lehigh Volleyball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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Team Stats
SP
Lehigh
Kills
18
37
Errors
10
11
Attempts
62
72
Hitting %
.129
.361
Points
24
54
Assists
17
32
Aces
2
13
Blocks
4
4
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
6
Aces
4
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
4
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
S/RS
/ Volleyball
OH/DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballRS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
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