Cougs Meet Cinderella Lehigh An Unlikely, But Not Untested, Opponent

Cindy Fredrick, coach of the NCAA Tournament-bound Washington State volleyball team, claims she knows as much about the Cougars’ first-round opponent as does the general public.

“I know they’re in the Patriot League,” Fredrick said about Lehigh University.

And they’re known as the Mountain Hawks. They represent the private liberal arts school located in Bethlehem, Pa., 50 miles north of Philadelphia. Lehigh earned one of the NCAA Tournament’s 26 automatic bids by beating Wagner University of the Northeast Conference in a pre-tournament play-in.

However, the Mountain Hawks weren’t expected to make it this far. They were picked to finish fourth in their league and ended the regular season tied for second at 4-2. They beat Navy and Bucknell to claim the Patriot League tournament title. Next, they eliminated Wagner.

Thus, a trip to Pullman to take on No. 11 Washington State (24-6) tonight at Bohler Gym. The first-round match will follow the 6 p.m. match between No. 21 Colorado State (26-5) and American University (30-3). The winners will meet Sunday at 2 p.m. for the right to play in the Central Regional, Dec. 12-13. The region winner will advance to the Final Four, Dec. 18 and 20 at the Spokane Arena.

Washington State has played in five consecutive NCAA tournaments, six overall. Lehigh, under first-year coach Patrick Nicholas, is a first-time participant.

Nicholas, previously an assistant coach at Ohio State, inherited a 13-24 team this season. The Mountain Hawks’ top hitters are two 5-foot-10 juniors who play on the outside. Kim Freedman has 441 and is hitting .297. Marta Mielcarz has contributed 414 kills on .233 hitting and leads the team in digs with 410.

The team’s tallest player is 6-1 sophomore Veronica Ret. WSU has six players at least 6-0.

“We want to go there and we want to compete,” Nicholas said. “We don’t want to be a token team. Can we physically match up? I have no idea.”

, DataTimes