After seeing its seven-game winning streak dissolve in a grueling match against Georgetown last week, the AU volleyball squad rebounded quickly with two Patriot League road victories at Lehigh and Lafayette.
The victories extended the Eagles PL wins to 55 games over the past four seasons. Eagles coach Barry Goldberg, however, said conference foes have been gearing up to play their best against his team making every game more difficult.
"Each week teams are playing outstanding defense against us," he said. "They are getting close, but right now we're a little too powerful for them."
Junior hitter Cuttrina Biddulph has, for a large part of season, been the powerful force other teams can't equal. On Thursday against Lehigh night she joined forces with senior Erin Algaier and sophomore Liz Maloney as each tallied nine kills to lead the Eagles to a smooth 3-0 sweep.
Coming back on Friday against Lafayette, Biddulph tore apart the Lafayette defense with a career-high 26 kills. It was the third time in four games that she has either equaled or set a new career mark.
"To have a strong match like that felt really good," said Biddulph. "I felt like I was consistent the whole game."
Biddulph's staggering numbers are what Goldberg said separates his team from the rest of the PL.
"We have had the dominant player in the conference for the past four years," said Goldberg referring back to his former All-American player Karla Kucerkova. "It's why teams are having a hard time beating us."
That praise hasn't altered her game though.
"When I'm playing I'm playing to win," Biddulph said. "That keeps me focused, but it's an honor to be in that category."
While Lehigh provided little threat to the Eagles in a match that lasted just over an hour, Goldberg was impressed with the play of Lafayette. In the first game, the Leopards shook the Eagles out of any complacency by taking it 34-32. The Eagles hit an uncharacteristically low .174 compared with to the Leopards uncharacteristically high .327 percentage.
After that game, however, Biddulph came alive. Utilizing her all-conference setter, senior Courtney Mulford, Biddulph took the life out of the Leopards with her relentless and persistent hitting. Her 26 kills were followed by senior Natacha Cornaz and Maloney, who both had nine.
Mulford was steady as usual with 48 assists and senior libero Sabrina Vasconcelos led the defense with 16 digs.
Halfway through the conference season, Goldberg is obviously happy with his team's position, but wants to see it improve in a couple different areas.
"Our ball handling still needs to improve and in a lot of games we haven't hit as well as we should have," he said.
Also, Goldberg said it has been difficult to mold a consistent starting rotation with nagging injuries to Algaier and Cornaz. "Neither of them is in full motion and it's throwing us off balance," he said.
On the bright side, Goldberg is pleased with the play of his freshmen Logan Striebel, Chelsa Brooks, Carly Barisich and Tara Stradling.
"We've gotten a good contribution from our freshman and they're all getting a little more time," he said. Brooks was the PL rookie of the week last week.
Looking ahead, the Eagles host a non-conference game against their Blue and Orange Line rival, George Washington on Tuesday before hosting Navy in the second round of PL play on Thursday. Both games start at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena.
Goldberg looks at Bucknell and Army as the biggest PL challengers and thinks Lafayette has a good shot at making the top four and going to the post-season tournament.
"It's getting to the point where teams are very competitive, but I'm confident that if we can get a good contribution out of six or seven players we're going to be solid," said Goldberg.
