Swimmers fall to Army in Patriot League opener
Despite putting up a strong fight, both the Men's and Women's Swimming teams lost to Army in the season's first Patriot League match-up on Saturday. The afternoon was highlighted by AU senior Dominick Szabo's record-breaking performances.
Szabo broke pool records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the latter of which had stood for nine years. In addition, Szabo won the 100-yard freestyle, and led AU's 400-yard medley relay team to victory.
Senior Ethan Bassett also contributed greatly, winning the 400-yard IM as well as the 200-yard butterfly and 1,650-yard freestyle. All told, the AU Men's side won the swimming portion of the competition by the score of 140-121, but lost the overall meet due to a lack of divers.
The Women's team started strong, winning the first five events, but the Black Knights used their deeper roster to overcome the Eagles. Senior Jessica Lidstrom led the Eagles by taking first place in 100- and 200-yard freestyle, and second place in the 50-yard freestyle.
Freshman Kaitlin Moughty also made a strong showing, taking first place in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore Christina Huang also won the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, and worked with Lidstrom, Moughty and junior Lindsay McDavitt to win the 400-yard medley relay.
The Eagles head to the U.S. Naval Academy on Nov. 14, where they will swim against Navy and Bucknell
- ELLIOT SMILOWITZ
Volleyball gets back to back wins in weekend play
AU Women's Volleyball appears to be unstoppable in the Patriot League as they shut out PL rivals Colgate and Bucknell, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.
Senior Karla Kucerkova led the team to victory in both games this weekend with 17 kills against Colgate and 22 kills against Bucknell. She is a mere 15 kills away from breaking the AU all-time record for career kills.
The Eagles traveled to Colgate's home court on Friday, Nov. 7. Although the games were nail-biters, AU swept the Raiders in all three games by a score of 30-27. Along with Kucerkova, junior Courtney Mulford helped rally her team toward the win, as well. She tallied 22 set assists, seven kills and a .700 attack percentage. Fellow junior Cutrina Biddulph also lent a helping hand posting 12 kills.
High off the victory in Hamilton, N.Y., the Eagles traveled to Lewisburg, Pa. to face Bucknell. Once again AU dominated the match extending its winning streak to 40. The defeat over the Bison (28-30, 30-32, 30-20, 30-24) gives the Eagles an undefeated record in the PL and a record of 17-9 overall.
Kucerkova again led the team with spectacular plays, along with Mulford who collected four kills, 23 set assists and three blocks. Not to mention, junior Erin Allgaier had 15 defensive digs and eight kills.
The Eagles have only two matches before PL Tournament action, being against Navy and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. AU travels to Navy on Friday at 7 p.m. in its final PL match-up of the regular season. Then the Eagle will host UM-Eastern Shore on Saturday at 2 p.m.
- LAURA RANDISI
