The AU volleyball team defeated the George Mason Patriots in straight sets Friday night, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-23 in the annual Bender Blue Out match.
Now in its fourth year, the Bender Blue Out match has broken attendance records for collegiate volleyball in D.C. Last year, the event set a D.C., collegiate volleyball attendance record with a crowd of 1,813. Friday night, AU broke its own record with an announced attendance of 2,055.
“That is such an encouragement to see our school get behind us,” said AU Head Coach Barry Goldberg about the attendance record. “It’s great to play in front of so many students and fans from the community.”
“The crowd was amazing and it gives us so much power,” said senior outside hitter Magdalena Tekiel. “It’s great when we know we have so much support from the whole school.”
Tekiel registered a game-high 18 kills for the Eagles and added 11 digs on the defensive end. Sophomore Krysta Cicala paced the offense with 18 assists, while Deborah Frantz led the defense with 13 digs. Noelle Fanella was the main offensive threat for the Patriots with 15 kills, while Fernanda Bartels orchestrated the offense with 26 assists.
“Magdalena hit the ball well,” Goldberg said. “And we were fortunate that [Alexandra Hammer] gave her a couple of really nice balls to set her through.”
After exchanging the first 12 points of the opening set, AU built a small 8-6 advantage after scoring two consecutive points. However, the Patriots responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to pull in front 13-10. After knotting the set at 14 apiece the Eagles, on the strength of freshman Juliana Crum’s serving, took a 19-16 lead. AU would coast from there, taking the first set by a score of 25-18.
The second set proved to be the turning point of the match. After dropping the first set, the Patriots needed a win to get back into the match. After AU led very early on in the set, George Mason took an 11-8 lead. The lead ballooned to 21-14 for the Patriots, and they looked well on their way to leveling the match at one apiece. However, the Eagles staged a dramatic comeback. Spearheaded by a couple of Tekiel kills, AU scored 11 of the next 12 points for a 25-22 set victory and effectively took control of the match.
Despite trailing by two sets, the Patriots played competitively in the third and final set. After being tied 13-13, George Mason scored eight of the next 13 points to grab a 21-18 advantage. However, a main theme of the night was the Patriots inability to close out sets, and the Eagles came roaring back for a 25-23 third set victory to clinch the match.
The next day the Eagles went to George Mason to compete against other D.C. schools in the D.C. Volleyball Challenge. With a straight sets win over George Washington University, the Eagles clinched a tournament victory—their third title in four years. The Eagles had previously won in 2007 and 2008. After clinching the tournament victory, the Eagles fell to Georgetown 3-0. But at that point the tournament victory already belonged to AU.
The Eagles will return home Wednesday, September 1st to take on the Coppin State University Eagles in Bender arena.
ttomea@theeagleonline.com
