WASHINGTON - For the 22nd time in 23 years as a member of the Patriot League, the American University volleyball team has advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The third-seeded Eagles (19-10) took down sixth-seeded Loyola Maryland (11-16) in straight sets and will now head to host school Colgate to take on the No. 2 seed Army at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17.

Notable

• The Eagles' hitting percentage was low for such a dominant win at .211, but their nine blocks helped keep the Greyhounds to a much lower .021 for the match.
• Seven of those blocks came from junior Lilou Stegeman, who also served up three aces.
• Grad student Zeynep Uzen, newly recognized as the Patriot League Player of the Year, led AU with 10 kills while also posting three blocks.
• Freshman Holly Hopkins came up with some huge plays at critical times and finished with eight blocks and five digs.
• Junior Bridget Javitch led all players with 16 digs, while junior Esma Sipahi posted eight digs and two blocks to go with 25 assists on AU's 28 kills.

How it Happened

• The first set was close early, but with a one-point lead at 13-12, the Eagles used a 9-4 run to surge ahead.
• Loyola hit a negative -.094 with 10 errors to just seven kills, and AU won it 25-17 behind three kills from Carly Sciborski and two solo blocks for Stegeman.
• The Eagles won both the second and third sets by a score of 25-20, and they never trailed in the second.
• Uzen posted five kills just in the second frame, and teamed up with Stegeman for a block to finish it off.
• The third set proved the most challenging for AU as the Greyhounds jumped out to a 7-1 lead.
• Still trailing at 10-5 and 15-12, the Eagles finally got it tied up at 16-all and 18-all before taking the lead for good.
• After picking it up halfway through, AU finished with a hitting percentage of .267 in the third set compared to just .033 for Loyola.

Up Next

• The Eagles will play No. 2 seed Army in a semifinal hosted by Colgate at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17.

Keep Up With Us

• For the latest on American University Volleyball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_Volleyball), Facebook (/AU.Volleyball) and Instagram (@au_volleyball).