Box
Score
The American University volleyball team smashed their way to a
victory over Lehigh Saturday afternoon, 3-0, recording a .462
hitting percentage, the team's second highest of the season. The
win is AU's 11th in a row this season and its 11th in as many
attempts at home.
The victory came by scores of 30-23, 30-19 and 30-22. The Eagles
recorded only 12 errors in 106 attempts and scored 61 kills.
Cassandra
Ricketts notched the second double-double of her career by
scoring 12 kills and digging 10 Mountain Hawk attempts. Ricketts
also finished with a match high .647 hitting percentage, committing
just one error in 17 attempts and blocked three shots. Rubena Sukaj earned
a .625 percentage with 20 kills and Chelsa Brooks also
finished the match with double-digit kills, 10, and rounded out her
performance with three blocks. Two Eagle setters, Christina Nash and
Tara
Stradling, reached double figures in assists. Nash dished out a
match high 34 and Stradling, coming off the bench, added 18 helpers
of her own.
American put game one out of reach early as it opened up a 10-2
lead to start. During that run, Sukaj landed three aces in a row
and added a fourth shortly after to extend AU's lead to 13-2.
Ricketts was five of six on the attack in the frame and committed
just one error. Claire Recht went
three of four and was also credited with two blocks.
Lehigh held their ground against the Eagles early in game two
but were unable to keep pace through the full stanza. Needing to
extend its two-point lead at 10-8, AU proceeded to go on a 7-2 run
powered by four Sukaj kills. The junior finished the frame with
nine kills in 10 attempts and zero errors. Brooks and Nash each
notched three kills in four attempts. Nash also added her largest
assist output of the match in game two with 18.
Game three was unlike either of the first two as AU found itself
trailing the Mountain Hawks for most of the early going. After
falling behind, the Eagles fought back to tie the game twice before
taking their first lead. Lehigh did not back down though as the two
teams traded scores and found themselves tied four more times
before AU took the lead for good at 18-17. Katerina Cinkova
entered the match for the first time in game three and recorded
four kills. Brooks put down five spikes during the stanza and
Stradling recorded all of 18 assists in the deciding game.
The Eagles will return to action next weekend as they continue
their month-long home stand. On Friday, Oct. 19, Army will enter
Bender Arena for a 7 p.m. meeting. The Black Knights are the only
PL team since American joined the conference in 2001 to defeat the
Eagles. The following day, Saturday, Oct. 20, Holy Cross will take
their shot at the defending PL champions at 2 p.m.
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