Sept. 19, 2007

Box Score

WASHINGTON - Battling a difficult opponent and difficult surroundings, the American University volleyball team defeated Army Wednesday night and improved to 2-0 in the Patriot League. The win is AU's sixth straight this season and 26th consecutive against conference opponents.

Rubena Sukaj (Tirana, Albania/Asim Vokshi) recorded her fifth double-double of the season and third match with 30 or more kills Wednesday, finishing with 31 kills and 11 digs. Christina Nash (Princeton, Fla./Coral Reef) notched her fifth match in a row with 40 or more assists, totaling 46, and Ivana Cebakova (Brno, Czech Republic/Ludvika Danka) dug a season high 25 balls. American's offense ended the night with its third highest hitting percentage of the season, .321, and defensively the Eagles held Army to a .210 percentage and recorded 12 blocks.

"We came to play tonight," Head Coach Barry Goldberg said. "We battled a tough team and came up with the big plays when we needed them. Our back row played really well and made some good adjustments to handle their serves after the first game. Our back row attack also worked well for us tonight and has become a nice weapon for us as of late."

The Eagles battled back from an eight point deficit in game one to take the Black Knights into a win by two situation, but were unable to upend the home squad, losing 36-34. Down to their last point, 29-27, American willed themselves back into the game, tying Army at 30 before taking a 32-31 lead. Three AU attack errors with the game tied at 34 ended the Eagles hopes of a comeback though and gave Army game point.

Just like they did the previous night at Holy Cross, the Eagles bounced back from their game one loss and defeated Army in game two, 30-23. AU jumped out to an early lead, thanks to improvements on both its offensive and defensive sides of the ball. In the frame, American tallied 15 kills and only one attack error, earning a hitting percentage of .368. Sukaj was the Eagles top scorer in the game, smashing eight kills on 10 attempts. On the defensive side, the Eagles limited Army to a .136 hitting percentage and forced 10 attack errors while blocking seven Black Knight attempts. Six players were credited with blocks including Brooks who assisted on three of the seven and Katerina Cinkova (Morgan Hill, Calif./Live Oak) and Nash who each recorded a solo block.

Game three was again a back and forth battle between two bitter rivals. With the score deadlocked at 27, the game was won by the team with fewer mistakes, as American took game point, 30-27, off two Army errors and a Sukaj kill. The reigning Patriot League Player of the Week recorded eight kills for the second consecutive game and added her third ace of the match. Nash dished out 10 Eagle assists in the stanza to go with three kills on as many attempts.

In the fourth and deciding game, AU's defense again stepped up to the monumental task at hand. American held the Black Knight offense to a .186 hitting percentage and forced nine errors, earning match point at 30-26. Sukaj and Claire Recht (Canby, Ore./La Salle) both assisted on two blocks to lead the defense and Cebakova dug seven attacks. Sukaj also tallied nine kills in the frame, including match point.

The Eagles continue their Patriot League Schedule next week when they travel to Navy, Sept. 28, for a 7 p.m. match. AU is 19-2 all-time again the Midshipmen and will look to extend their six match win streak.