BALTIMORE - Coming back from a two sets to one deficit, the American University volleyball team showed no quit and gutted out a 3-2 win at Loyola Maryland, beating the Greyhounds (12-15, 5-8) in five sets for the second time this season. It was the 12th straight win for the Eagles (19-7, 12-1) who have one road match remaining at Navy before they close out the regular season with two home matches.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The set scores went back and forth, with AU losing 25-21 in the first, winning 25-19 in the second, losing 25-19 in the third, dominating 25-12 in the fourth and then finishing it off with a 15-12 win in the fifth.
• AU limited its errors in the opening set, but Loyola's attacks found more open spots and the Greyhounds took the set by a score of 25-21 with a 19-12 advantage in kills.
• After getting in a hole early in the first set, the Eagles flipped things around and took control of the second set early on. 
• Back-to-back Helena Elbaek kills put AU up 18-9, and the Eagles later led 24-15. Loyola fought off a few set points but AU sealed the win with an Olivia Wassner kill.
• The Greyhounds committed just two errors and hit .519 in the third set. They took a 21-12 lead before Zeynep Uzen knocked down a kill and served up two aces in a 4-0 run, but ultimately the Eagles still fell 25-19 to go behind 2-1 for the match.
• American's defensive play held Loyola to a negative hitting percentage as the Eagles dominated all the way through the fourth set and won it easily. Half of Uzen's eventual 12 digs were recorded in the fourth set alone.
• The score was neck and neck for most of the final set, and was tied for a sixth time at 12-12. Elbaek came up big again with back-to-back kills and Uzen put away match point with her 17th kill of the night.
• Uzen's double-double of 17 kills and 12 digs led the Eagles, while senior libero Kristen Largay added a huge number to her AU record digs, posting a match-high 32 of them.
• Elbaek finished with 12 kills and tied her career high with a team-best six blocks.
• Coming in for the final three sets and making a huge impact was Vela McBride, who hit a match-best .625 with six kills and also recorded four blocks.

QUOTED

• "Loyola is a gritty team and they came out more aggressively than us from the start. We started to get more aggressive in set 2 and Zeynep and Helena started to get hot. Big kills from both of Loyola's outside hitters in set 3, but again we responded well as we tried many players to see who might get us hot! In the end, we had the final push in set 5 as Vela added to Zeynep and Helena's efforts with big kills to get us through." - Head Coach Barry Goldberg 

UP NEXT

• AU will play its final regular season road match at Navy on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. The Eagles will return home on Friday, Nov. 15 to face Holy Cross, and finish the regular season at home on Nov. 16, taking on Lafayette for Senior Day.

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