Mountain Hawks Bested By Colgate

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After Lehigh volleyball’s resounding sweep over Loyola on Friday night, the Mountain Hawks returned to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on Saturday to host the defending league champion Colgate Raiders. The Mountain Hawks competed the whole way through but ultimately lost in three sets.

Lehigh (9-8, 3-5 PL) and Colgate (13-5, 8-0 PL) gave the fans in attendance quite the show in the first set, playing all the way to a 34th point. The set remained closely-contested nearly the whole way through until the Raiders scored two unanswered to set up set point at 24-21. The Mountain Hawks rallied back, reaching set point at 25-24 themselves. The two teams continued to trade points until the score was tied 32-32. The Raiders finally secured two points in a row to win a wild first set.

The Mountain Hawks again tested the Raiders in the second set, keeping pace to reach a tied score of 14-14. From there, the Raiders offense took off, conducting an 8-2 run to take a 22-16 lead. Lehigh would bring it to within two at 22-20, but Colgate closed out the set 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead. The Raiders offense hit an outstanding .682 in the frame while the Mountain Hawks hit a respectable .313.

The Raiders turned up the intensity in the third, hitting .520 while holding the Mountain Hawks to a -.031 hitting percentage. Lehigh remained competitive through the first third of the set until an 11-2 Colgate run set up match point at 24-12. The Mountain Hawks got back two points but fell 25-14 to close out the match.

First-year Mary Massias led the Mountain Hawks offensively with nine kills on a .389 hitting percentage. Junior Abby Felkai paced Lehigh with 18 assists while sophomore Sophia Bond tallied 11 digs to lead the team.

Colgate was led by Milan Bayless with 18 kills on a .500 hitting percentage while Tiana Owens joined her in double-digit kills with 15.

The Mountain Hawks return to action on Saturday, October 18 at 2 p.m. for a rematch with Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y.

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