Nov. 17, 2007
Box Score
WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball
team captured its seventh-consecutive Patriot League Tournament
title Saturday night, defeating Colgate 3-0. Tournament MVP Christina
Nash directed an AU offense that hit .430 in the match and
committed just 10 errors.
Game scores in the championship match were 30-23, 30-26, 30-18.
American scored 59 kills on 114 attempts in the win, aced the
Raiders nine times and blocked eight balls on defense. Colgate hit
just .248 through three games and managed just four blocks. The
victory moves American to 26-7 overall this season and 14-0
all-time in the PL Tournament. Colgate falls to 17-13 overall,
ending the program's first winning season in over a decade.
"We had a great performance from our entire group tonight," Head
Coach Barry
Goldberg said. "Anytime our team can score that many kills and
commit that few a number of errors we can do some special things.
Colgate was a tough team though. They really played well last night
and even tonight. Fortunately for us we played at a high level at
the right time."
Nash dished out 43 assists in the match and finished the
tournament with 80. The junior setter also recorded a .400 hitting
percentage with four kills, four digs and one ace. Rubena Sukaj hit a
match-high 25 kills and dug a team-high seven attacks. Sukaj
committed just four errors on 46 attempts and ended the night with
a .457 hitting percentage. Ivana Cebakova
also reached double-digits in kills, totaling 10, while digging six
balls and assisting on four attacks. Claire Recht and Cassandra
Ricketts each notched seven kills and hitting percentages of
.600 and .462 respectively.
American outhit Colgate in game one .353 to .182. The Eagles
totaled 17 kills in the game with eight from Sukaj and five from
Ricketts. In game two Sukaj hit 12 kills on 19 attacks with just
two errors for a .526 hitting percentage. Nash had a match-high 18
assists in the frame and three kills. American drastically outhit
the Raiders in game three, .441 to .156. AU committed only two
errors in the game and received five kills from Sukaj, four from
Cebakova and three from Recht.
Nash was honored as the tournament's MVP. She recorded 80
assists in the two matches, 12 kills and a .423 hitting percentage.
Three of her teammates, Sukaj, Ricketts and Burns, were also
recognized for their tournament performances on the PL
All-Tournament Team. Sukaj finished the weekend with 45 kills, a
.400 hitting percentage, 15 digs and five total blocks. Ricketts
hit .363 with 16 kills, nine digs and five total blocks. Burns had
a team-high 19 digs in the two matches, three aces and seven
assists.
The victory secures American a spot in the NCAA Tournament which
begins Nov. 29. Next Sunday, Nov. 25, the Eagles will find out who,
when and where they play during the NCAA Selection Show which will
be aired live on ESPNU at 8 p.m.
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