Nov. 6, 2007

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball celebrated its three seniors in their final regular season home matches by defeating Virginia Commonwealth, 3-0, Tuesday night in Bender Arena.

The Eagles, despite hitting .306 in the first game, struggled with the Rams in game one. VCU put up a fight, smashing 18 first-game kills and even leading late into the game. However, the Eagles overcame a sloppy start to put away the visitors, 30-25.

Game two came easier for AU, dominating from the start in a 30-17 thrashing. AU easily blew past the Rams on the strength of a .387 team hitting percentage. Meanwhile, the Eagles defense allowed VCU to hit just -.054.

After a late scare in game three, where VCU took a brief lead, AU once again pulled out a win, this time 30-26. Though the Eagles hit just .206 in game three, VCU's offense was once again held down, hitting just .068.

Rubena Sukaj led all players with 18 kills, hitting .378 and adding three assists, seven digs and six total blocks, including two solo blocks. Claire Recht hit .444 with four kills and eight block assists.

Seniors Chelsa Brooks, Logan Striebel and Tara Stradling played in their final regular season home match. Stradling had 17 assists and three digs, Striebel added two aces and three digs and Brooks had five kills, three digs and a block assist.

The win is American seventh straight, moving AU to 22-7 overall. The Rams fell to 10-18 overall.

AU returns to action on Nov. 9 & 10 when it travels to Lehigh and Lafayette to round out the PL docket. The Eagles have their own fate in their hands, with a pair of wins guaranteeing that American will host the PL Tournament for the seventh consecutive season. American has hosted and won the Patriot League Tournament in each of its seasons in the league.