Box Score Postgame Comments from Coach Barry Goldberg (Facebook Live)
WASHINGTON – Aleksandra Kazala had a game-high 16 kills and American University head coach Barry Goldberg won his 700th career match as the Eagles swept Army West Point, 25-16, 26-24, 25-21 in a Patriot League volleyball match Saturday.
The win was American's 13th straight and the 16th in the last 17 matches, improving the Eagles record to 23-6 and a perfect 13-0 in the league.
AU has secured one of the top two seeds in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, to be held at the home of the highest seed.
The Black Knights, who had won five of their last six coming in, fell to 16-10 and 8-4 in the PL. Army is in third place in the league standings.
Carolyn Bockrath, Allie Strong and Vanessa Wesley had nine kills each to lead the Black Knights.
AU went ahead 4-1 and never trailed in the first set. The Eagles led 17-10 and 21-12 before closing the set at 25-16.
Army West Point jumped ahead 7-3 on a six-point service run by Strong, who had three aces in the stretch. The Black Knights were up as much as 15-10 before the Eagles pulled even at 16-16. The Black Knights had two set points at 24-22, but the Eagles finished with a four-point run to complete the comeback. Kazala had eight of her kills in the second set.
There were eight ties and four lead changes in the third set, with AU taking its final and decisive edge on a kill and a serve ace by Webb to make it 21-19. The Eagles kept the edge the rest of the way to finish off the milestone victory.
American travels to second-place Colgate (10-2 in league play) on Friday and faces Lehigh on Saturday before returning home for its regular-season finale on Saturday, Nov. 12 with Loyola Maryland.
