FORT WORTH, Texas – The Utah Valley University volleyball had its winning streak halted at four on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 setback to Lehigh at TCU's Fight at the Fort at The Rickel in Fort Worth, Texas (20-25, 17-25, 19-25).
 
The Wolverines drop to 5-5 on the season with the setback, while the Mountain Hawks of the Patriot League improve to 5-3 with the win.
 
"We were not very good today. We've got to give credit to Lehigh, they played much better than we did and we just didn't respond," head UVU coach Sam Atoa said. "We expect to be better on Saturday, and hopefully we can improve on those areas that we struggled at in this game." 
 
With Lehigh holding to a 7-6 advantage in the opening set, UVU managed to reel off a 6-1 run to take a 12-8 lead. Following a Mountain Hawk point, the Wolverines then followed with a Madison Dennison kill and a LU ball handling error to extend their lead to 14-9. Lehigh then countered right back, however, with six unanswered points to take a 15-14 advantage. After a UVU point, the Mountain Hawks then followed with an 8-2 spurt of their own to take a 23-18 lead. LU then put the opening set away, at 25-20, following a Utah Valley service error.
 
The Mountain Hawks continued to hold the upper hand early in the second game, as they jumped out to a 6-1 advantage. Later trailing 9-3, UVU then reeled off a 4-1 spurt to pull within three at 10-7. Kristen Allred and Lexi Thompson led the run with a kill apiece. LU then answered back with a trio of consecutive points to extend its lead to 13-7. Utah Valley later made it a four-point deficit, at 18-14, following three straight points that was capped by an Allred service ace. Lehigh then went on a final 7-3 run to put the set away at 25-17.
 
LU once again looked strong early in the third set, as it built a quick 9-3 lead thanks to a 6-1 run. UVU then struck back by scoring four of the next five points to pull within three at 10-7. Sierra Starley led the Wolverine spurt with a kill and an assist. The Mountain Hawks managed to respond once again, however, with four straight points to extend their lead to 14-7. With Lehigh later holding to a 20-12 advantage, the Wolverines delivered a clutch 5-0 run to make it a three-point deficit at 20-17. Thompson led the UVU rally with a pair of kills. The run wasn't enough, however, as LU answered with a late key 4-1 run of its own to put the set and the match away.
 
Despite suffering the defeat, Alexis Davies paced the Wolverines with eight kills while Thompson added six and the reigning WAC Player of the Week Dennison chipped in five. Brighton Taylor led UVU at the net in the match with three blocks, while Starley put up a team-best 19 assists and Seren Merrill led the way with 17 digs.
 
Lehigh's Ana Spangenberg led all players with a match-high 11 kills in the contest and a .346 attack percentage.
 
The setback snaps UVU's winning streak at four matches. During the streak the Wolverines defeated both Montana and Long Beach State at home, as well as Idaho State and Utah State on the road.
 
The Wolverines will continue the weekend tournament with two more matches on Saturday. UVU will first face-off against Duke of the ACC that morning at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT, before closing the event with a matchup against the Big 12 TCU Horned Frogs at 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT. Following the Fight in the Fort, Utah Valley will return to the state of Utah for a trio of in-state matches next week. UVU will first face Weber State in Ogden on Wednesday, Sept. 13, before hosting both No. 18 Utah on Friday, Sept. 15 and No. 10 BYU on Saturday, Sept. 16.