The American University volleyball team dropped the opening set, but rallied to win the next three in Wednesday night's 3-1 victory at Loyola (Md.). The set scores were 23-25, 25-21, 25-15, and 25-22.

Rebecca Heath led the attack for American (6-9) with a match-high 15 kills, a .308 hitting percentage, and nine digs. Juliana Crum and Sara Rishell each recorded double-digit kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Crum added 13 digs to notch the double-double. Morgan Hendrix also had a productive evening for the Eagles with nine kills and a team-best five blocks. Monika Smidova, meanwhile, led AU with 33 assists as well as a team-high 14 digs.

Loyola (4-10) took the first set after hitting .406 as a team. But the Eagles turned up the defensive pressure, holding the Greyhounds to hitting percentages of .029, .114, and .237 over the final three sets. For the match, Loyola hit only .193 compared to .278 for American.

The Eagles will begin Patriot League play with a pair of home contests this weekend. AU will host Bucknell on Friday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m. before welcoming Colgate to Bender Arena on Saturday, September 24 at 2:00 p.m. Both matches will be carried live on Eagles Vision TV.