WASHINGTON - All three matches this week ended in 3-0 sweeps for American University volleyball as the Eagles (10-6, 3-1) finished it off with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-23 victory over visiting Lehigh (9-8, 1-5). Defense was the key for AU in three close sets against the Mountain Hawks, and the Eagles were led by junior
Bridget Javitch with 18 digs.
By the Numbers
- Also reaching double figures in digs was grad student Zeynep Uzen with 10, and she nearly made it a double-double with nine kills.
- Grad student Carlie Fikse had an impressive outing with a team-high 11 kills and a match-best hitting percentage of .625 along with a match-high five blocks.
- Freshmen Holly Hopkins and Carly Sciborski totaled 10 kills each, and freshman Kaitlyn Evans added three blocks to three kills with zero errors.
- Junior Esma Sipahi led all players with 35 assists while also coming up with seven digs and two blocks.
Notable
- American never trailed in the match until early in the third set, but the first two had plenty of drama.
- The Eagles led 8-2 at the start of set one, but Lehigh tied it up for the first time at 12-12. After AU established another strong lead at 19-14, the Mountain Hawks rallied again.
- AU led by just one at 23-22 and again at 24-23 before Hopkins finally finished it off with a kill for the 25-23 set win.
- The second set saw the Eagles up 16-12 before Lehigh rallied yet again. It was tied at 19-all and 22-all before two Lehigh errors combined with an ace from Javitch put AU back in front and gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead in the match.
- The Mountain Hawks saved their biggest comeback for last, as even an 18-8 lead proved not to be safe enough in the third set.
- Lehigh used a 10-0 run to even it up at 18-18, but after a service error put the Mountain Hawks down 19-18, AU led the rest of the way.
- Big points in the final stretch came from Holly Hopkins with an ace, and from Fikse and Evans who both posted kills.
Next Up
- The Eagles will play their next four PL matches on the road, starting with a 7 p.m. contest at Loyola Maryland on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
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