The AU volleyball team finished up the road portion of its Patriot League schedule with two victories, defeating Colgate University 3-1 Oct. 21 and Bucknell University 3-0 Oct. 22. The Eagles (16-10, 8-1 PL) remain in first place in the conference.
Eagles return to form AU’s win against Colgate comes after its first regular season conference loss since October 2009 earlier this month against Lehigh University. The Eagles returned to their winning ways by defeating the Raiders (10-14, 6-3 PL) in four sets with set scores of 25-23, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-20. Juliana Crum and Rebecca Heath each posted a game-high 17 kills, while Crum, Monika Smidova and Alexandria Miller each tallied at least 10 digs on the defensive end. Kaylee Dougherty and Lindsay Young paced the Raider offense in defeat, as Dougherty totaled 15 kills and Young added 11. Trailing 9-3 in the first set, AU went on a 12-6 run to knot the game at 15 apiece. The Eagles would ride that momentum for the 25-23 set victory, as Heath capped off the set with one of her 17 kills. AU continued its strong play during the second set, never trailing in the game. The Eagles jumped out to a 9-5 lead, and Heath would once again register the set-clinching kill to put AU up 2-0. Despite scoring six of the third set’s first seven points, AU couldn’t earn the straight-set victory as the Raiders fought back with a 7-1 run and later prevailed 25-19 in the third game. But AU squashed any hopes of a Colgate comeback by going 11-8 in the fourth set and never losing the lead en route to the 25-20 clincher.
AU completes season sweep of Bucknell The Eagles earned their second conference win in two days by defeating the Bison (6-12, 3-6 PL) in three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-13 to give AU its second straight-set victory over Bucknell this season. Crum lead the Eagles’ offense once again with 10 kills and hitting .444 on the afternoon. Crum had a combined 27 kills on the weekend while only making three attack errors. Sara Rishell also added 10 kills in the victory, as the freshman outside hitter hit .600 with one attack error. Smidova and Alexandra Hammer paced the offense with 20 and 14 assists, respectively. With the first set tied at 21, AU’s top performers stepped up to give it a 1-0 advantage. Two Rishell kills and a Smidova service ace led to a Crum kill, as the Eagles closed the opening set on a 4-0 run for the 25-21 victory. The Eagles dominated from there, as Bucknell never held a lead in either the second or third set. AU will finish off its regular season schedule with five consecutive games at Bender Arena. The first is Oct. 28 against the Navy Midshipmen.
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