The Eagles hosted the American Volleyball Classic this weekend and took on Villanova University Friday, Sept. 16, while squaring off against Western Kentucky University and the University of Missouri Saturday. The Eagles (5-9) lost all three matches and won one set on the weekend.
Villanova handles Eagles
AU fell to the Wildcats (8-5) in straight sets by scores of 25-20, 25-19 and 28-26. The first set saw the Eagles close the gap to 18-16 after trailing by as many as eight, but AU was unable to overtake the Wildcats. Once Villanova took a 7-6 lead in the second set, it never looked back, while the third was the closest of the match. With the game tied at 25 apiece, the two teams exchanged points until Kim Maroon hit an ace to seal the match for the Wildcats.
All-Tournament selection Sara Rishell led the Eagles with 12 kills, while Monika Smidova led the team with 22 assists and 14 digs defensively.
“Villanova was faster, and they hit the ball better than we did, and they made more kills than we did,” Head Coach Barry Goldberg said.
Western Kentucky cruises past AU
The Eagles first Saturday game was against the Hilltoppers (14-1), who won in straight sets 25-13, 25-21 and 25-22. Western Kentucky dominated the first set, while the Eagles were able to stick with the Hilltoppers early in the second before falling 25-21. Western Kentucky led by as many as six in its 25-22 third set victory.
Rishell once again led the team with 12 kills, while Alexandria Miller and Rebecca Heath each tallied seven digs.
“We [were] kind of off a little bit, couldn’t get anything clicking,” Rishell said. “Except near the end, we got into a bit of a rhythm; just a bit off today, kind of unfortunate.”
Missouri defeats AU in nightcap
Saturday night saw the Eagles fall 3-1 to the Tigers (13-4), who reached the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament. AU came back from an 11-6 first set deficit to tie the game at 25 and, after trailing by one, a three-point surge capped by a kill from Juliana Crum gave AU its only set win of the weekend at 28-26. However, Missouri took control of the game and won the next three sets 25-18, 25-20 and 25-18.
“They [Missouri] served us tough and we didn’t handle the receive as well,” Goldberg said. “We couldn’t run the offense; they just got physical with us by the net.”
Crum, Heath and Rishell posted double-digit kills, while Smidova recorded 41 assists and Miller led the team with 15 digs.
The Eagles are 1-6 in their last seven matches. The team will travel to take on the Loyola Greyhounds on Wednesday, Sept. 21 before opening Patriot League play against Bucknell University on Friday, Sept. 23 at Bender Arena. AU has won the conference regular season and tournament championship in nine of the past 10 seasons, only failing to do so in 2009.
