Aug. 25, 2007
Box Score
WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball
team continued its quest for the D.C. Volleyball Challenge title
Saturday with a 3-0 win over George Mason. With the win, the Eagles
moved their tournament and season record to 2-0.
AU's offensive attack was more than the Patriots could handle as
the Eagles connected on 50 kills. For the second match in a row Rubena Sukaj
led the offensive, smashing 19 kills. Sukaj was also credited with
three block assists and five set assists. Claire Recht set a
new career high of 10 kills one day after pushing her previous
career high to seven. In total, five Eagles including Chelsa Brooks,
Sukaj, Christina Nash,
Recht and Cassandra
Ricketts, recorded hitting percentages over .300.
In the matches first game AU jump out to a big lead midway
through. A well rounded attack sparked the first game victory with
Recht smashing four kills and four other Eagles recording three.
The second game was a seesaw battle from beginning to end, with
neither team able to take more than a two point advantage. AU
attempted to pull away from the Patriots taking a 28-25 lead late
in the game, but two Eagle errors brought GMU back to within one.
With the game's outcome still hanging in the balance at 28-27,
Ricketts emphatically put away a kill to bring the Eagles to game
point. Ivana
Cebakova would then recorded game point on her third kill of
the game.
American ran away with the third game taking advantage early and
often of GMU miscues. The Eagles rushed out to a 5-0 advantage
before a GMU timeout. Coming out of the huddle AU continued to
pressure the Patriots, increasing their lead to 7-0 before the
visitors were able to record any offense. With match point coming
at 29-14, Nash snipped her third service ace of the day, capping
the victory. In game three the Patriots erred on 10 attack
attempts, two serves and were charged with two ball-handling
errors.
American will return to action later in the day, taking on
George Washington at 7 p.m. in the tournaments nightcap. The match
also marks AU volleyball's inaugural "Bender Blue Out," as American
attempts to break its own attendance record for a women's
collegiate volleyball match in Washington, D.C.
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