Sept. 26, 2008
Box Score
WASHINGTON - The American University volleyball
team defeated Colgate on Friday night, 3-0, in the Second-Annual
Bender Blue Out. 1,313 fans filled the seats of Bender Arena to see
the Eagles in their home and conference opener.
"Tonight was a really fun match for our girls," Head Coach Barry
Goldberg said. "We had a great crowd that was into the match
the entire time and our team responded and played well. Colgate is
a good conference team and this was a great way to start off the
conference schedule."
AU (7-6, 1-0) won in straight sets for the sixth time this
season by scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 25-14. In the first set
American took control right from the first serve, scoring
four-consecutive points for a 4-0 lead. After a Colgate timeout
with the Eagles ahead by six, 8-2, AU went on a 6-2 run to push its
lead to 10, 14-4. American continued to roll down the stretch and
easily took set point, 25-14. Freshman Rebecca Heath
tallied five kills in the first frame to lead the Eagles in scoring
while senior Rubena Sukaj, junior
Claire Recht
and sophomore Cassandra
Ricketts each added three.
Colgate took control of the early portion of set two as the
Raiders scored the first three points for a 3-0 lead. AU quickly
responded and tied the score at four on an Ivana Cebakova ace
and took its first lead in the set on a second Cebakova ace, 5-4.
The Eagles could not extend their lead however as Colgate would
retie the score and remain even with AU for most of the frame. Tied
at 16, American was finally able to pull away and opened a three
point lead, 20-17, before taking set point by six, 25-19. Heath
again led the Eagles in kills in set two as she and Sukaj each
scored four.
The Eagles opened a slight lead early in the third set and
gradually built their lead to four, 10-6. Colgate was able to
remain close as they closed the gap to two, 12-10, but would not
get any closer. AU built its lead back up to seven, 18-11, using a
5-0 run and scored six straight points down the stretch to reach
match point, 25-14. AU combined to hit a match-high .444 in the
third with 15 kills on 27 attempts and just three errors while
holding Colgate to a -.033 hitting percentage with six kills on 30
attempts and seven errors.
Senior setter Christina Nash
dished out 31 assists in the win and led the team to an overall
hitting percentage of .370. Sukaj and Heath each recorded a
match-high 11 kills while Cassandra
Ricketts led all hitters with a .667 hitting percentage on
eight kills, zero errors and 12 attempts. Defensively, the Eagles
held Colgate to a combined .080 hitting percentage and were led by
Cebakova who tallied nine digs and Sukaj and Ricketts who each
tallied seven.
American will be in action again tomorrow, Sept. 27, welcoming
Bucknell to Bender Arena for a 4 p.m. match. Fans unable to attend
tomorrow's match can still watch all of the action live from their
homes via Eagle Vision All*Access by clicking
here.
