Plagued by injuries affecting four of its six starters, the AU volleyball team is sitting in a three-way tie for third place in the Patriot League after splitting away matches against Bucknell Oct. 12 and Colgate Oct. 13.
Setter Kylann Scheidt, who didn’t play this weekend due to a concussion, is expected to miss two more weeks. Filling in for Scheidt for her first career start, Teodora Peric recorded 47 assists to help AU (12-8, 4-3 PL) pick up a victory over Bucknell. The Eagles defeated the Bison 3-1, with set scores of 25-23, 13-25, 30-28 and 29-27.
“I think given the circumstances, I thought she [Peric] did pretty well,” AU head coach Barry Goldberg said. “They’re athletic and they played us pretty hard, and I was happy to get out of there [with a win].”
Morgan Hendrix led AU’s attack against the Bison (6-16, 0-7 PL) by tallying a team-high 12 kills, a game-high .579 hitting percentage and a team-high four blocks. Kristyna Lindovska also posted 12 kills to go along with a .375 hitting percentage.
AU was unable to win a set in the loss at Colgate, falling 25-23, 25-16 and 28-26. The Eagles were outhit .227 to .096 against the top team in the Patriot League and posted 11 more errors than the Raiders (9-11, 7-0 PL).
“We were close in the Colgate match with a new setter, [but] we didn’t play too well in the second set of both matches, and that was disappointing,” Goldberg said. “We’re just letting teams back into games. We’ve got to be able to play the entire match out.”
In that second set, AU hit -.065 and recorded more errors (nine) than kills (seven).
Juliana Crum starred for the Eagles in the loss, as she posted a game-high 13 kills. She also had seven digs and more points than anyone on either team (14).
“One good thing that happened in the Colgate match was Julie really came out and hit the ball hard and well,” Goldberg said. “She hit a better percentage, and that’s a good sign for us.”
Rebecca Heath also played well for AU, totaling eight kills, four digs and a .222 hitting percentage.
The Eagles travel to play Holy Cross Oct. 19 and Army Oct. 20, as they try to kick off the second half of PL play on a high note. AU previously swept HC, 3-0, Sept. 22 and fell 3-2 to Army Sept. 21, both in Bender Arena.
“I’m a little disappointed certainly to this point that we’re not better than we are, and I’m sure they are, too,” Goldberg said. “But we’re in the battle and everything’s in front of us.”
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