Posted: September 9, 2005
VILLANOVA, Pa. – For the first time this season, a Lehigh match went longer than three games; and after five grueling games the Mountain Hawks came away with their second consecutive victory 3-2 over Rider Friday evening at the Villanova Volleyball Classic at Nevin Field House. Game scores were 30-28, 28-30, 30-24, 23-30 and 15-13 as the Mountain Hawks improve to 2-0 in the tournament, and 2-6 on the season. The two victories match Lehigh’s win total from last season and mark the first time since November 2003 the Mountain Hawks won consecutive matches. The loss drops the Broncs to 1-6 overall, 1-1 in the tournament.
“This team just kept fighting the whole time,” said Lehigh head coach Amanda Moran. “They dug themselves in a whole a couple times, but every time they fought back. This was a great win for our team.”
The two teams alternated the first four games with Lehigh taking games one and three. The Mountain Hawks were trailing 12-11 late in the fifth game but battled back, going on a 4-1 spurt to end the match and secure their second win of the day on Friday.
Junior Michelle Schwendenmann paced the attack with 18 kills and a .295 hitting percentage. Julia Atkins added 11 kills and Shaina Jordan came off the bench to add six. Defensively, four Mountain Hawks reached double figures in digs. Junior Cassidy Maumus recorded 19, while Schwendenmann and Nikky Barnes tallied ten digs apiece, and sophomore Kathleen Lafferty had 11 digs to go with her season high 44 assists.
“Kathleen did an outstanding job running our offense tonight,” Moran said. “Her play was one of the main reasons we were able to win this match.”
The Broncs had three players record double figure kills, led by Stefanie Lombardo’s 21.
Earlier in the day the Mountain Hawks defeated Wagner 3-0 for their first victory of the season.
Lehigh will play two more matches in the Villanova Volleyball Classic on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks will take on Morgan State at 12:30 p.m., then tangle with the host Wildcats of Villanova at 7:30.