Unbeaten Mountain Hawks Complete Perfect Weekend With Sweep of Florida Atlantic

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Cleveland State

9/2/2022 | 1:30pm

ESPN+

Sep 02 (Fri) / 1:30 pm

Cleveland State

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – A come-from-behind third set effort capped a fabulous 3-0 sweep (25-11, 25-20, 26-24) of Florida Atlantic to take home the FAU Invitational title Saturday afternoon at Abessinio Court at FAU Arena. The victory over the Owls (2-1) propels the Mountain Hawks (3-0) to an unblemished record to the 2022 season, the best start since 2018 when Lehigh began 8-0.

It also marks the first time in program history with three consecutive 3-0 wins to open a season.

“Honestly, it was an incredible win for us,” said head coach Alexa Keckler. “We started out of the gates strong, which is something we talked about adjusting from yesterday. I think FAU is a talented team, they pushed back in that third set when we were down six points. I was most proud of our players that they pushed and continued to push back.

“They played with confidence, they didn’t panic and given some of the inexperience that we have right now, I was proud of them and they were fighters. Seeing them pull that out at the end felt great for everyone.”

The first set was a remarkable extension of the dominance felt from the weekend as a whole as the Mountain Hawks started it off on a 7-2 run thanks to four straight service aces from first-year Drew Brown. That caused FAU to spend a timeout. Lehigh went up by 11, 20-9 as Megan Schulte picked up the kill off the Makena Smith assist. The Mountain Hawks took five of the last six points including three straight to win the first set.

“I thought our serving was a huge factor to our success in that first set,” Keckler said. “We were creating difficult serve receipt for them and our serves were not only aggressive, but they were accurate. We got them out of system quite a bit and then ultimately, FAU had a ton of unforced errors that was uncharacteristic of them. Going into the second, we knew it was going to be a little tighter.”

Florida Atlantic played a closer second set after unforced errors caused the first set to go haywire. Lehigh led early on, but three straight FAU points gave the Owls the lead at 13-12. The Mountain Hawks scored seven of eight including four straight with two kills from Schulte to take a 19-14 lead. Trailing 23-16, FAU clawed back to win four of the last six, getting as close as three but fell 25-20 following a pair of bad sets.

Despite Lehigh getting the first point of the third set via a kill from first-year Natalie Luscomb, FAU took care of things to fight and get out on a 13-6 run. Leading by as many as eight points (16-8), the Owls dropped five straight points which included three attack errors, combined with two blocks from both Luscomb and Emily Stewart.

FAU looked to be in control after getting out to a 23-18 lead, aiming to snap Lehigh’s eight-set win streak, however, a timeout called by Keckler shifted the momentum entirely. The Mountain Hawks rattled off six points in a row to take back the lead and a 10-2 run gave Lehigh the 26-24 win.

Schulte led the team with 11 kills, adding eight digs with three service aces. Luscomb had eight kills, three digs and three blocks, while Sophia Meagher led the team with four blocks. Makena Smith tallied her first double-double of the season with 22 assists and 13 digs and libero Kyleigh Brown finished with a team-high 16 digs.

“Megan certainly played well for us, she kept working to find holes and score,” said Keckler. “Natalie came up big in the third set, getting a couple big blocks and being a player that we could give the ball to. But I have to give some of the credit to our defense, especially in the third set. We didn’t play great defense in the first and second, but in the third, we just really rallied. Makena had some great digs that robbed some great swings from FAU and Kyleigh had some outstanding digs as well.”

Lehigh hit .250 for the match, including .394 in the second set to come out on top with the victory. The Mountain Hawks emerged victorious in the ace battle, 10-0 as well as in blocks, 8-1 and digs, 53-45.

Lehigh did a fine job containing FAU’s key players despite a match-high 13 kills from Katelynn Robine and 11 from Valeria Rosado.

“Our team had unmatched energy,” Keckler said. “It’s been incredible to see that come to fruition from everyone on our team – on the bench, off the bench and in the weight room – their energy and passion for the game has been so impressive. It’s so easy and fun to coach when they play like that. In that third set, we got a little flat early on, but we just took one spark and caught fire. Our energy is proving to be very helpful in creating an atmosphere of winning.”

Schulte was named Most Valuable Player of the FAU Invitational as Luscomb and Kyleigh Brown joined the sophomore outside hitter on the All-Tournament team.

The unbeaten Mountain Hawks return home for the first time in 2022 to host the Steel Classic Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Lehigh opens play against Cleveland State Friday at 1:30 pm before hosting Buffalo at 7:30 pm Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).

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