The volleyball team this weekend finished off the regular season, defeating Lehigh and Lafayette 3-0.
Friday night, the Eagles defeated the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, capturing their seventh straight PL Regular Season Championship. The win secured home-court advantage throughout the post-season for AU.
The game scores in the match were 30-16, 30-19 and 30-28. Overall, AU out-hit the Mountain Hawks .333 to .098, recording 47 kills on 99 attempts and committing only 14 errors.
The Eagles returned Saturday to the court with another dominating win over the Lafayette Leopards. AU swept the three games 30-26, 30-21 and 30-15. It was a team effort as 11 different Eagles scored points. American out-hit Lafayette .281 to .120.
The Eagles are red-hot going into the PL Tournament, winning their last nine games and improving their overall record to 23-7. The Eagles will look to several players to be the dominating forces they have been all season, including junior Rubena Sukaj. Sukaj led AU in scoring on Friday and Saturday, notching 18 kills in both performances. The junior leads the entire Patriot League in kills and aces per game.
AU will also turn to junior Christina Nash to lead the team in the quest for a conference championship. Nash has been an unsung hero, turning out outstanding assist numbers. In the final game of the season, Nash had 21 assists, hit for a .833 percentage with five kills on six attempts and tallied two solo blocks and one block assist.
"It is nice to see our team playing well as we head down the stretch," AU head coach Barry Goldberg said in an AU athletics press release. "I'm looking forward to a competitive weekend as we bring the Patriot League Tournament to American."
The post-season tournament will be held in Bender Arena. Joining the Eagles in the tournament will be Colgate, Army and Navy. On Friday, AU will face the Midshipmen of Navy in the opening round.
If AU is able to defeat Navy on Friday, they may face Army in the finals Saturday evening. Army has handed the Eagles their only PL defeat of the season.
