Women's Volleyball

AU Volleyball Hits its Offensive Stride With a 3-0 Win Over Colgate

Oct. 5, 2007

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball team rallied itself after a poor game one Friday night to defeat the visiting Colgate Raiders, 3-0. With the win, AU improves to 12-6 on the season, 4-0 in the Patriot League and its current winning streak extends to eight. The Eagles have now won 26 consecutive regular season PL matches and 30 total including postseason play.

AU's victory came 30-27, 30-27, 30-23. The Eagles finished the match with a .302 hitting percentage and 53 kills. Colgate on the other hand was limited to just a .179 percentage and no Raider reached double digits in kills.

Chelsa Brooks (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) was outstanding on both the offensive and defensive sides of the net. The senior connected on 12 of 16 attacks while committing only two errors, earning herself a .625 hitting percentage. Defensively, Brooks was credited with six total blocks and notched two digs. Rubena Sukaj (Tirana, Albania/Asim Vokshi) was the matches' leading scorer with 18 kills, four aces and one block assist.

The Eagles continued an unfavorable trend in game one, coming off the starting blocks slowly. As a team, AU hit just .083 in the stanza and recorded nearly as many errors, 11, as kills, 14. American persevered though using a strong defense as its catalyst. AU blocked four attacks and limited Colgate to a .091 percentage en route to victory.

AU's offense hit its stride in game two, finishing the period with 20 kills and a .441 percentage. Sukaj tallied six kills and Brooks and Claire Recht (Danby, Ore./La Salle) each added four. Sukaj also recorded all four of her aces in the frame on consecutive serves. Tara Stradling (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) entered the match in game two at the setter position and dished out 15 of her match high 31 assists.

The American offense looked like a well oiled machine again in the third game, hitting at a .389 percent with 19 kills. Sukaj laced 10 of those kills as she propelled her team to match point. Brooks was a part of all three Eagle blocks in the frame, notching her teams only solo block in the match and assisting on two others.

American returns to action when conference foe Bucknell visits Bender Arena tomorrow, Oct. 6, at 4 p.m. The Eagles will look to defend their home court where they are an undefeated 8-0 this season.

 


American University athletics news is available via our weekly American Eagles E-News. Sign up for the free newsletter by clicking here

.


Print Friendly Version