The AU women’s volleyball team continued their dominant run as they swept the first two games of their Patriot League season this weekend, defeating Lafayette on Sept. 27 and Bucknell Sept. 28.
The Eagles (16-1, 2-0 PL) began the first set against Lafayette (8-5, 0-3 PL) with a 7-1 run that was sparked by a kill by senior outside hitter Juliana Crum, giving the Eagles a commanding lead that they would not give up winning 25-11
The second set began with Lafayette striking first, jumping out to a small lead until AU managed to tie it up at seven apiece until junior outside hitter Allison Cappellino notched a kill. From there, AU would regain their dominant ways going on a 7-1 run and win the set 25-13.
In the final set AU obtained an early 10-5 lead. Unlike the first two sets, Lafayette would remain competitive as they fought back to reduce the deficit to as little as two.The Eagles responded to the comeback attempt by going on a 6-0 run to gain a 23-14 lead. Lafayette would continue to keep things interesting as they managed to make it a six point game, but a kill by junior middle blocker Kelly McCaddin sealed the set and the match, giving AU a 25-18 win and a 3-0 sweep of Lafayette.
For AU, Crum led the team with 10 kills and junior setter Monika Smidova with 25 assists. AU outhit Lafayette .312 to -.056, the second time this season that AU has held their opponent down to a negative hitting percentage. Karissa Ciliento led Lafayette in kills with seven and Molly Belcher had nine assists.
The second game this weekend was against Bucknell (6-6, 0-4 PL) Sept. 28 and unlike the previous game, this one would prove to be much more competitive despite the same result.
The opening set was a seesaw affair as neither team managed to gain much of an advantage early on with 12 ties throughout the match. The Eagles took the lead when junior outside hitter Kristyna Lindovska notched a kill to take 15-14 lead. AU would not relinquish the lead taking the first set 25-22.
The second set began with AU pulling away early, jumping out to an 8-3 lead before Bucknell called a timeout. The timeout did little good as AU continued to pull away, holding off a rally with back to back kills by junior middle blocker Bree Scarbrough and Hendrix leading to a 25-17 win.
The third set looked like it would be an early blowout as AU racked up nine straight points before Bucknell managed to score. However, the Bison managed to come back reducing the deficit to four to 18-14. AU responded with three consecutive points but Bucknell matched them and managed to come within two points, reducing the deficit to 23-21. AU would regroup and close out the set off a kill by Crum and an attack error from Bucknell’s Jordan Walker.
Both Crum and Lindovska scored in double digits, Crum registering 15 kills and Lindovska 11. Smidova led AU in assists with 25 and AU outhit Bucknell .275 to .114. For Bucknell, Kristen Titley had seven kills and Rose Lewis had 12 assists.
The next game for the Eagles will be Oct. 2 as they host Patriot League newcomer Loyola in Bender Arena.
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