The American University volleyball team (16-4, 6-2) defeated the Army Black Knights (8-9, 4-4) in four sets on Oct. 12 in Bender Arena. This was the Eagles’ longest four-set match of the season so far, lasting 203 points, just shorter than some of American’s five-set matches on the year.
The Eagles came into the match off of a win on Oct. 11, taking a 3-1 match in a visit to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Black Knights were also in action in Pennsylvania that night, sweeping the Lafayette Leopards.
Army and American traded points to start off the first set, neither team able to establish a run until the Eagles found some leverage, taking 9 points in a row and 12 of 14 to go up 20-13 later on. After that performance and Army taking a timeout to regroup, the Black Knights came out and rattled off 5 points in a row, forcing American to take a timeout and chopping the lead down to 2.
The set went to extra points as the teams continued to trade blows, American finally pounced on an attack error from Army to set up for a kill from senior middle blocker Lilou Stegeman to finish off the set, 26-24.
After that finishing kill from Stegeman, the Eagles got off to a slow start, going down 5-1, only tying the set at 14 after a 6-1 run. This set also went to extra points, Army finding a way to get the advantage in their favor on four separate occasions, but American found a way each time to get a kill and keep playing. Two straight kills from junior outside hitter Adelina Berisha sealed the set for the Eagles, 30-28.
Long runs and big leads were nowhere to be found in this third set. Army and American went back to their first set form, trading points and short runs, with the Black Knights finding ways to maintain a lead or a tie through it all. American found some fight late in the set, getting it to a tie at 23 and forcing a match point, but Army responded and won the set in extra points, 27-25.
The Black Knights and Eagles traded runs for most of the match, but in the fourth set, with both teams tired after the first three going to extra points, American and Army traded runs. The score swung back and forth, but American found a way to make their runs 1 or 2 points longer than Army’s. Freshman outside hitter Zedo Yilmaz shone in this final set, hitting a couple of kills from the backline to put the match out of reach for Army. The Eagles took the final set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Six Eagles contributed at least 7 kills in the match: Yilmaz (18), Berisha (14), sophomore outside hitter Sofia Osterdahl (9), freshman middle blocker Elise Sterling (8) and senior setter Esma Sipahi (7). Sipahi put up 46 assists to lead the team, while freshman libero Bella Marrero put up 23 digs on the night.
Sterling was excited after the win, especially with so many points where it could have swung the other way.
“Being able to come back in and win those sets, it showed who we are, and the trust we have for each other to win those points, those sets and those games,” she said.
Eagles head coach Ahen Kim showed pride in this team after the win, noting that the backline attack from Yilmaz was something they had in the works to cause “chaos” for opposing defenders.
“Each team has something unique about them. We do too. It’s about learning to adjust to those unique things, that’s how you get far in the league, and that’s what got us through this weekend,” Kim said.
The Eagles travel to play the Black Knights again on Oct. 19, then return home on Oct. 25 to play the Holy Cross Crusaders.
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Nicole Kariuki and Sabine Kanter-Huchting.
