The AU volleyball team opened its final home stretch of the season by defeating Navy 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, and 25-15) Oct. 28 at Bender Arena.
The win comes after AU was victorious in both matches of a crucial two-game road trip against Bucknell University and Colgate University.
“We can dominate games away; we can get the job done at home as well,” AU’s Sara Rishell said. “Just saying this is our house and we can control the games at home.”
The Eagles (17-10, 9-1 PL) started the match off strong both offensively and defensively. AU dished out 11 kills and had a .364 hitting percentage in the opening set, while the Midshipmen (6-19, 1-9 PL) had seven errors.
The Eagles would dominate both of the first two sets, as Rishell and Rebecca Heath combined for 14 of the team’s 23 kills, compared to just eight for Navy as a team.
Juliana Crum, who was named CVU.com’s National Player of the Week, started the match off slow hitting wise, but lead the team with 15 digs on the night while posting five service aces.
“Julie’s definitely solid,” Rishell said. “We can always count on her to get the job done; she’s really consistent.”
Navy tried to keep pace with AU, but overall, the Midshipmen had a -.051 hitting percentage and 19 errors. The Eagles were able to capitalize by easily taking the third set 25-15.
AU ended the match with 36 kills, as Rishell hit a team-best .571 with nine kills and one error. Bree Scarbrough was also productive for the Eagles with a .444 hitting clip and five kills as the Eagles hit .280 as a team over the three sets.
“Good showing tonight; we served really well,” Head Coach Barry Goldberg said. “Serving game was on, we played better defense and we blocked good tonight.”
The victory over Navy marks the team’s second game at Bender Arena since Sept. 27, as the Eagles recently finished up a stretch that included seven road games in eight matches.
“We tell our team when we begin the season if you want to be good, you have to be good on the road,” Goldberg said. “We had our ups and downs, but now we can see if we can hold home court.”
The Eagles will return to action this weekend with a pair of home matches. They face the College of the Holy Cross Nov. 4, before taking on the Army Black Knights Nov. 5. A win against the Black Knights would bring AU one step closer to winning the Patriot League regular season title.
“I definitely wouldn’t call Holly Cross a small match,” Scarbrough said. “But we wanted to make our statement out here. We’re going to fight our hardest and we’re going to play our best for all of them.”
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