Box Score The American University volleyball team took the first set from
defending National Champion No. 1 Texas, but couldn't complete the
upset as it fell, 3-1, in the third round of the NCAA
Tournament.
Monika
Smidova posted a double-double for the Eagles with 36
assists and 13 digs, also adding four blocks. Kristyna
Lindovska registered a team-high 11 kills and
Juliana
Crum picked up 20 digs.
"Our whole team is really pretty special this year," said Head
Coach Barry Goldberg. "There's nothing to be
ashamed of. We couldn't keep up the level of making the kills...One
more kill was all we needed, especially when we were down in the
first game three or four. We came back there near the end. I'm
proud of our first game effort, for sure. They just raised their
level."
American (34-3) notched the first three points of the match but
the Longhorns answered to tie it up at 5-all on a kill by Bailey
Webster. The Eagles took a 9-5 advantage on a 4-0 run, forcing a
Texas timeout, but the Longhorns rallied with five straight points
to cut American's lead to 13-12. Texas took its first lead of the
set, 20-18, on a 6-0 run but an attack error by Khat Bell sparked a
6-1 run for the Eagles as it went up 24-22 on a kill by Crum. The
Longhorns knotted it up at 24-all but a service error by Haley
Eckerman and an attack error by Texas secured the 26-24 set one win
for American.
Texas (26-2) took an 8-2 lead in the second set but a kill by
Crum cut its advantage to five, 10-5. The Longhorns answered for
the 15-8 lead on a kill by Chiaka Ogbogu but Lindovska picked up
the kill for the Eagles and Megan
Rosburg had an ace to put the Texas lead back at five,
15-10. The Longhorns responded with a 6-0 run for the 21-10 lead
and were able to close out the set with three straight tallies for
the 25-14 win to knot the match up at 1-all.
American took a 3-0 lead to open the third set but Texas
battled back to tie it at 4-all. The teams traded points but the
Longhorns took a 10-6 advantage with four straight tallies.
Kelly
McCaddin ended the run out of an Eagles' timeout but
Texas answered with an 11-3 streak for the 20-11 lead. American
posted three straight points to put the score at 23-16 but after a
Longhorns' timeout Texas posted back-to-back tallies for the 25-16
win and 2-1 match advantage.
The Longhorns went up 7-2 in the fourth set but the Eagles
rallied to make it a two-point match on back-to-back kills from
Bree
Scarbrough and Lindovska. A McCaddin kill cut the
Texas lead to one, 13-12, but after a Longhorns' timeout Texas
notched consecutive kills and took a 20-15 advantage on a block by
Eckerman. Sarah Katz
answered for American and a kill by Lindovska and block by McCaddin
and Smidova cut the Longhorns' lead to 24-20. But a kill by Bell
was able to give Texas the 25-20 victory and 3-1 match
win.
Webster led the Longhorns with 18 kills as four players reached
double-figure kills. Hannah Allison had a double-double with 54
assists and 12 digs and Sarah Palmer led the defensive effort with
25 digs. Bell finished with a team-high seven blocks and 16 kills.
Texas outhit the Eagles .324 to .138 for the match.
American concludes its season matching the program record for
wins with 34 after advancing to its first Sweet 16 and posting its
first NCAA Tournament victories in program history.
