Friday, August 28
Harrisonburg, Va.
11 a.m.
Lehigh University
0-1
0
vs
3
Northern Arizona
1-0
1
2
3
F
Lehigh
19
15
22
0
Northern Arizona
25
25
25
3
Mountain Hawks split first day of season-opening JMU Classic
8/28/2015 9:37:00 PM | Volleyball
HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Lehigh volleyball team suffered a tough 3-0 (25-19, 24-15, 25-22) season-opening loss to Northern Arizona Friday at the JMU Classic, but bounced back with a hard-fought 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 28-30, 25-21) win over St. Francis Brooklyn in the day's nightcap to salvage a split on the first day of the season.
"Northern Arizona was a very good attacking and blocking team," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "There were areas of the game where we played as well or better than them, but we couldn't shut them down offensively. St. Francis is a much-improved team from the last time we saw them and they really exposed some of our weaknesses, so it's good to learn what we can work on to become better."
Senior Stephanie Slater led Lehigh with 22 kills on the day, while classmate Ana Vrhel and sophomore Whitney Krantz tallied 16 apiece. Vrhel also stuffed a team-best 11 total blocks in the two matches combined. Senior Amy Matula dished a team-best 40 assists, while junior Mariah Brantley notched 41 digs.
"I thought a lot of our freshmen did very well for their first outings," said Bertucci. "Some of our upperclassmen have a few things to work on, but I'm positive we'll take lessons away from this weekend that we can work on in practice to improve."
St. Francis Brooklyn got out to an early 7-5 lead in the first set of the day's nightcap before a kill from Vrhel sparked a 3-1 Lehigh run to tie the score at eight. The score was tied at every point up until 14-14 before a pair of Terrier errors were followed by a kill from freshman Victoria Hemsath and a service ace from sophomore Stephanie Stieber as Lehigh jumped ahead 18-14. St. Francis Brooklyn wouldn't get closer than three the rest of the way as kills from junior Katie Jennison and senior Leah Turner secured the final two points to give Lehigh a 25-20 set-one win and 1-0 match advantage.
The Mountain Hawks picked up where they left off in the second set, getting out to a quick 9-4 lead with the help of four kills from Vrhel. St. Francis Brooklyn eventually battled back to pull within one at 20-19, but Lehigh closed the set on a 5-1 run with the help of kills from Turner and Vrhel and a service ace from Brantley to capture a 25-20 set-two win and 2-0 match lead.
The third set began in a 4-4 tie before the Terriers grabbed a lead they wouldn't relinquish until back-to-back Lehigh kills from Slater and sophomore Kelly Bennett put the Mountain Hawks in front 11-10. The score was tied at 12 and 13 before a kill from St. Francis Brooklyn's Leah Zitting put the Terriers in front 14-13. St. Francis Brooklyn controlled the lead until three straight Lehigh points were capped off by a spike from Hemsath to make it 18 all and force the Terriers to call a timeout. Neither team could get ahead by more than a point in a back-and-forth battle that lasted until a kill from Maggie Niu was followed by a Terriers block to give St. Francis Brooklyn a 30-28 set-three win and narrow Lehigh's match lead to 2-1.
The Terriers opened the fourth set with an 8-3 lead, but Lehigh battled back to tie the score at 11 with the help of kills from Vrhel and Hemsath. Lehigh broke open a 14-all tie with three straight points thanks to a Slater kill, Terriers error and service ace from freshman Emily Develle to take a 17-14 advantage. St. Francis Brooklyn eventually tied the set at 19, and against at 20 and 21, but three kills from Hemsath and a Vrhel service ace ended the match as Lehigh captured a 25-21 set-four win and 3-1 match victory.
Slater led Lehigh with 15 kills in the nightcap, while Hemsath and Vrhel tallied 12 apiece. Hemsath hit an outstanding .400 for the match.
The Mountain Hawks held an early 3-2 lead in the first set against Northern Arizona, but the Jacks responded with a 6-0 run to take a 8-3 advantage before a kill from Slater stopped the streak. Lehigh was able to pull back within two at 11-9, but NAU put together another lengthy streak, 9-1, to capture a 20-10 lead. Down by ten at 22-12, Lehigh put together a 7-2 run behind kills from four different Mountain Hawks, but it was too little, too late as the Lumberjacks secured the final point of the set to claim a 25-19 victory and 1-0 match advantage.
Northern Arizona took a quick 5-1 lead in the second set, but Lehigh battled back to knot the score at nine with the help of a pair of kills and service aces from Vrhel and sophomore Whitney Krantz. The Lumberjacks answered with a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 advantage and force a Lehigh timeout. A kill from Slater and then a block from Slater and Bennett put the next two points on the board for Lehigh, but the Lumberjacks closed the second set on an 8-3 streak to capture a 25-15 victory and 2-0 match advantage.
NAU took a slim 4-3 lead in the third set, but a bad Lumberjack set was followed by three-straight Lehigh blocks to give the Mountain Hawks an early 7-4 lead. Northern Arizona fought back to tie the score at ten. After three more knotted scores and lead changes, a kill from Vrhel and service ace from freshman Megan Polak gave Lehigh a 16-15 lead. The Mountain Hawks held onto a 21-20 lead following a Bennett kill, but the Lumberjacks closed the set on a 5-1 run to secure the straight-set victory.
Krantz and Slater led Lehigh with seven kills apiece in the day's opener, while sophomore Mariah Brantley tallied a team-best 16 digs.
The Mountain Hawks close out weekend action against host JMU Saturday at 1 p.m.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
NAU
Kills
26
49
Errors
20
19
Attempts
109
123
Hitting %
.055
.244
Points
39.0
62.0
Assists
22
46
Aces
4
2
Blocks
9.0
11.0
Game Leaders
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
L
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L
/ Volleyball
RS/OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballRS
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S
/ Volleyball
OH
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