Four years ago, six freshmen entered the AU Volleyball program as it was transitioning from the Colonial Athletic Association to the Patriot League.
This weekend, those freshmen, now seniors, capped off the final chapter in a perfect PL career.
The AU Volleyball team defeated Army, 3-0, in the Patriot League championship on Saturday night at Bender Arena, winning the three games 30-23, 30-28 and 30-21, and clinching a fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
The day before, AU defeated Navy, also in three games (30-20, 30-21, 30-15), to advance to Saturday's final. The Eagles did all this after winning all 14 regular-season PL games to earn the No. 1 seed in the PL tournament. And they did all that after doing the same in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Having likely played its last game in Bender, this year's senior class will leave the AU hardwood with a 64-0 record in the PL.
"When we came in [to the PL] as freshmen, we didn't know anything about the teams, and the idea was to take it as it comes," said senior setter Courtney Mulford. "But we didn't even drop a game until the conference tournament. Now it's become an issue of pride."
Mulford, who by nature of her position goes largely unnoticed when having a good game, ended her PL career with a stellar performance, registering 46 sets, a season-high for a three-game match.
Meanwhile, her fellow senior, outside hitter Natacha Cornaz, led a relentless Eagle attack with 15 kills and was named tournament MVP. And senior libero Sabrina Vasconcelos led AU defensively with 14 kills and played a crucial role in winning Game 2, which turned out to be Army's last stand.
With Army two points away from tying the match at 1-1 late in Game 2, Vasconcelos registered her only kill of the game, deftly setting the ball into the back right corner after Army returned a spike from junior middle blocker Cutrina Biddulph.
"It was a huge play from Sabrina, an absolutely fantastic move," said AU head coach Barry Goldberg. "She's one of the few people in this place that has that ability."
Tied at 28, Biddulph then struck two good serves to end the game, including an ace on game point. The Eagles never looked back after that, and led by as many as 11 in a tensionless final game.
The cameras in the building from College Sports TV may have liked Army to win Game 2 for the sake of higher drama. But for the six seniors - Cornaz, Mulford, Vasconcelos, outside hitters Erin Algaier and Daria Bobko, and middle blocker Cathy Fluegeman - domination, not suspense, was the preferred route to victory.
"It's the last home [match] for the six of us," Cornaz said. "As freshmen, the game we dropped to a league team was to Army in the final. So today was kind of symbolic for us."
Despite losing in three games, Army looked like the only team in the PL tournament capable of beating the Eagles in a match. Led by Rachael Travis, who had 11 kills, two solo blocks and six block assists, Army did give the Eagles some trouble, holding the AU attack to a .283 hitting percentage and beating the Eagles, 11-10, in total team blocking.
Now, the Eagles attempt to do something no class, senior or otherwise, has done in an AU volleyball uniform -advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"It's a huge team goal," Mulford said. "We've gone to the tournament the last three years in a row and competed hard but haven't gotten over [the hump]."
To prepare for the tournament, which doesn't start until December, the Eagles will head to Long Beach State to play in a tournament against the hosts and Kentucky on Thanksgiving weekend.
The Eagles scheduled the tournament hoping it would be a good place to get reacquainted with the faster play they will see from tournament opposition. But there was no guarantee the Eagles would be playing in the NCAA tournament at the time the trip west was scheduled.
"It was a risk," Goldberg admitted. "But now it looks like a pretty good idea"
