Box Score WASHINGTON – Aleksandra Kazala had a career-high 25 kills to lead a massive comeback as American University rallied from two sets down to take a five-set victory over Georgetown in the volleyball season opener for each team on Friday.
The Hoyas won the first two sets 25-19 and 25-21 before American rallied to win 25-20, 25-20 and 15-13.
Kazala, a sophomore from Debica, Poland, previously had a career-best of 15 kills and had seven matches last season with double-figure kills.
Liv King led four Georgetown players in double figures with 19 kills, with Alyssa Sinnette at 18, Ashlie Williams with a dozen and Symone Speech with 11.
Paige McKnight finished with 55 assists and 15 digs, while Kenzie Higareda had a team-high 22 digs. Speech finished with six blocks.
AU took control of the third set with a six-point run that built a 20-14 lead.
The Eagles took leads of 6-1 and 10-4 to gain an early advantage in the fourth. Georgetown got within 14-12, but AU was able to generate a 6-1 run and move to the win.
Georgetown led the final set 12-9, but another 6-1 rally closed out the match for the Eagles.
American travels to George Mason for the next two matches of the D.C. Volleyball Challenge. The Eagles face the host Patriots at 1:30 p.m. and Howard at 4:30.
Howard opened the tournament with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 win over Mason in Friday's opener.
American plays host to seventh-ranked University of Washington this Sunday at 4 p.m. in the 10th annual Bender Blue Out match. The Eagles will try again to break the D.C. single-game volleyball attendance record of 2,629, set at last year's Blue Out.
Fans are encouraged to wear blue, and all tickets bought online at AUeagles.com/Tickets by Sunday at 10 a.m. are priced at just $3 when using the discount code VOLLEY16 at checkout. This special online-only ticket offer is not valid on game day at the Bender Arena box office.
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