Oct. 19, 2007
Box Score
WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball
team lost its first Patriot League match of the season Friday
night, 3-1 to Army. The loss moves AU to 15-7 on the season and 7-1
in the PL, while the Black Knights improve to 18-4 on the season
and 6-2 in the conference.
Game scores in the match were 30-26, 29-31, 26-30 and 26-30. The
loss snaps several prominent streaks for AU, most notably its 33
match win streak against PL opponents. Previously the Eagles had
lost only once since joining the conference in 2001, a 3-0 defeat
two years ago to the same Black Knights squad, and had never lost
to a PL foe inside Bender Arena.
The Eagles were out-hit Friday night, .241 to .217, despite
committing fewer errors than their opponent. The team relied
heavily on its go-to scorer, Rubena Sukaj, who
recorded a match high 27 kills on 67 attempts. Sukaj nearly missed
her eighth double-double of the year as she notched eight digs and
also added three block assists. Ivana Cebakova led
the American defense against the conference's No. 1 offense with 23
digs for her fifth 20-plus digs performance of the year. Chelsa Brooks hit a
team high .500 with 10 kills and also tallied one solo block and
three block assists. For the third time this season Christina Nash and
Tara
Stradling each dished out 20-plus assists as Nash connected on
29 passes Friday night and Stradling found her Eagle teammates 20
times.
Army was led by a quartet of scorers including Jamie Clark who
recorded 15 kills, Rachael Breinling and Elizabeth Lazzari who each
notched 14, and Briana Stremick who tallied 12. The Black Knights'
setter, Maureen Bannon, recorded a double-double with 59 assists
and 11 digs.
Game one gave the crowd inside AU's Bender Arena a preview of
the excitement to come, as the two teams exchanged the lead 10
times. American eventually gained the lead for good with the score
tied at 18 off a Black Knight attack error. From that point, the
Eagles spread the ball around well as five different players scored
kills in the games final 11 points.
In game two the teams fought for control again, finding
themselves tied 11 times. Despite the close score, American never
trailed until an attack error gave Army an 18-17 upper hand. The
Eagles would rebound though and regained the lead at 22-21 on a Christina
Nash ace and pushed their advantage to three points. Never
backing down, Army again tied the game at 26 on a Clark kill. The
two teams knotted up the score three more times before Army finally
gained the final lead and earned game point at 31-29.
The Eagles fell behind early in game three and were never able
to catch up. At one point, Army opened an eight point lead on the
home team and looked poised to blow them out of the arena. American
refused to go down without a fight though and battled its way back
to within three points of the leader before finally loosing their
momentum.
In what was undoubtedly the most exciting game of the match,
game four, American again fell behind to the Black Knights and were
forced to play catch-up. Down 22-12, Head Coach Barry Goldberg
called a timeout to rally his players for one last rush. Out of the
huddle AU brought the game back to within three points, 29-26, but
just could not outlast Army as Stremick hit her 12th and final kill
for match point.
The Eagles will be in action again tomorrow, Oct. 20, as they
welcome Holy Cross into Bender for a 2 p.m. match. AU and the
Crusaders have met once already this year, a match which resulted
in a 3-1 win for American in Worcester, Mass.
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