Oct. 4, 2008
Box Score
WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball
team continued its winning ways on Saturday, defeating Lehigh, 3-0,
at home in Bender Arena. The Eagles have now won five matches in a
row, all in straight sets, and have recorded 12 straight victories
over Patriot League opponents.
The Eagles (10-6, 4-0) dispatched Lehigh by set scores of 25-8,
25-12, 25-23. American jumped out to an 11 point lead in the first
set, 13-2, on the strength of an 8-0 run. A few moments later, AU
extended its lead to 15, 21-6, as senior Christina Nash
scored one of two Eagles aces in the set. American continued to
roll down the stretch and after a Cassandra
Ricketts kill AU took set point off a Mountain Hawk error,
25-8. The Eagles combined to hit .526 in the set with 12 kills on
19 attempts and just two errors. Claire Recht and Cassandra
Ricketts were each a perfect two-for-two on the attack and Katerina
Cinkova went four for five.
American took control of the second set off the opening serve as
Recht recorded consecutive kills to put AU ahead, 2-0. Ahead by
three, 8-5, the Eagles began a 7-0 run highlighted by three Sukaj
kills and two Ricketts aces to extend their lead to 10, 15-5. AU's
lead reached as many as 13 in the set, 23-10, when Nash found Magdalena
Tekiel on the outside for a kill as the Eagles cruised to set
point, 25-12. Recht was again perfect in the frame to lead the
Eagles as she converted on all four of her attack attempts. Nash
dished out 15 assists in the set to guide the Eagles to a .643
hitting percentage.
AU had its hands full in the third set and trailed by two,
13-11, at the midway point. The Eagles fought back to tie the score
at 14 but fell behind again quickly, 16-14. With the score tied at
18, American took its first lead since going ahead 1-0, 19-18, on a
kill by Rebecca
Heath but could put the match away as the team's continued to
trade points. A Lehigh attack error gave AU its first match point
of the set and after a Mountain Hawk timeout Heath put the match
away with her fifth kill of the set, 25-23.
American's win marks its fifth-consecutive straight set victory
and 12th-consecutive win over a PL opponent dating back to last
season. The Eagles were led by Nash who directed the offense to a
.475 hitting percentage while dishing out 36 assists. Sukaj led all
scorers with 12 kills and added seven digs on the defensive side of
the net. Recht finished the match with an .800 hitting percentage
as she scored eight kills on 10 attempts with zero errors.
The Eagles will return to action next Friday, Oct. 10, against
Navy at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena. The following day, Saturday, Oct.
11, AU will host NJIT in a non-conference matchup scheduled for 12
p.m. Live video from both matches will be available via Eagle
Vision All*Access by clicking
here.
