Mountain Hawks fall in straight sets at JMU

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Lehigh volleyball team lost a tight 3-0 battle (25-23, 26-24, 25-19) Saturday afternoon against James Madison in the final game of the JMU Classic. Senior Ana Vrhel tallied a team-best 12 kills and eight total blocks with an impressive .526 hitting percentage, but the Mountain Hawks hit just .105 as a team for the match.

"I thought we played very well against them, but we just beat ourselves at the end," said head coach Bob Bertucci. "It would be a tie score late in the sets and we would make costly errors. Our offense needs a lot of work and we're still juggling around players and lineups, but we'll work on all of that this week in practice."

Vrhel's strong performance capped off a weekend in which she tallied 28 kills, a .392 hitting percentage and 19 total blocks. Her performance earned her a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

"Ana had a very good weekend and got recognized by getting an All-Tournament team award," said Bertucci. "She has the right mindset right now going into the games. We have to get a couple more people on her wavelength."

Sophomore Whitney Krantz recorded nine kills, while senior Stephanie Slater tallied eight. Senior Amy Matula dished a team-best 17 assists, while junior Mariah Brantley notched 14 digs. JMU hit .157 for the match and was led by Janey Goodman's ten kills.

Three kills from Vrhel put the first points on the board for the Mountain Hawks, but the Dukes took an early 7-3 lead in the opening set. Lehigh responded with a 9-2 run to jump ahead 12-9 and force a JMU timeout. The Mountain Hawks stayed at least one point ahead of the Dukes until JMU capitalized on four-straight Lehigh attack errors and added a service ace to turn a 20-18 deficit into a 23-20 lead. A kill from Krantz stopped the Dukes' streak and was followed by a Branley service ace and another Krantz spike to tie the score at 23. A kill from JMU's Goodman was followed by a Lehigh error as the Dukes grabbed a 25-23 set-one win and 1-0 match advantage.

JMU took a quick 7-4 lead in the second set, but Lehigh battled back to knot the score at eight with the help of three kills from senior Leah Turner. A block from Vrhel and freshman Victoria Hemsath gave Lehigh the lead at 10-9 and the Mountain Hawks eventually extended their lead to three at 17-14. The Dukes then put together a 6-1 run to reclaim the advantage at 20-18. JMU sat one point away from set point at 24-20, but a Dukes attack error and kills from Vrhel and Krantz helped Lehigh rally to tie the set at 24. JMU was able to close out the set with the next two points to win 26-24 and earn a 2-0 match lead.

Lehigh battled back from an early 7-4 deficit to knot the score at seven early on in the third set. The Dukes then broke a 10-10 tie with a 7-1 streak to pull away from the Mountain Hawks and earn a 17-11 advantage. JMU worked its lead to 23-14, but Lehigh had one last rally as kills from three different Mountain Hawks put another five points on the board, but it was too little, too late as a Goodman kill secured match point for JMU and the Dukes won set three 25-19.

The Mountain Hawks make their home debut next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 4-5, with the Crosstown Invitational.

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Team Stats

Ana Vrhel

Whitney Krantz

Stephanie Slater

Leah Turner

Players Mentioned

Mariah Brantley

Victoria Hemsath

Whitney Krantz

Amy Matula

Stephanie Slater

Leah Turner

Ana Vrhel

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