BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Senior Leanna Deegan was dominant on the outside in Bethlehem, Pa. on Sunday evening with 29 kills to power the Lafayette volleyball team past Lehigh by a 3-1 score.
 
Deegan's efforts followed up a 21-kill performance on Friday in a 3-1 victory for the Maroon and White, completing the weekend sweep. Lafayette improves to 2-2 on the season, while Lehigh falls to 0-4, and beats Lehigh twice in the same season for the first time since 2006.
 
Lafayette controlled the first set by feeding Deegan as she connected on five of her first seven swings en route to the 25-14 victory in the opener. Lehigh went out on the front foot in the second, but the Leopards worked back to tie it at 17-17. Unfortunately, though, the Mountain Hawks won eight of the next 14 points to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 second-set win.
 
The third proved the most even of the opening three as neither side was able to hold momentum and, at 23-24, Deegan sent a perfect kill down the left sideline to stave off the Lehigh win and move it to extra points. Another from Deegan at 25-25 set up the winning kill from Gracie Gibson on the next point to push the Maroon and White to a 2-1 lead, 27-25.
 
The fourth was more convincing for the Maroon and White as they got out to an early 10-5 lead and never looked back. Madi Wahrmund's kill on match point closed out the 3-1 victory.
 
Wahrmund and Grace Tulevech were the other factors in hitting with seven and nine kills, respectively, using a team-high 27 assists from Alyssa Vitale. Grace Steurer posted three service aces and Katie Weston led the defensive effort with 21 digs.
 
Lafayette will try to get over the .500 mark in its next match on Friday, traveling to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with American at 7 p.m.