The Eagles disposed of both the College of Holy Cross and the Army Academy in four sets on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
AU beat Holy Cross Friday night 25-14, 19-25, 25-14 and 25-11. They also went on to be Army 25-22, 25-22, 21-25 and 25-21.
AU came into the match riding a wave of outstanding play that occurred over the last three weeks. Since a highly-contested 3-2 loss to Army, the Eagles have only dropped one set.
“We are not thinking about where we are or where we are going,” said Head Coach Barry Goldberg. “We are just looking to get good.”
In the opening set against Holy Cross, AU started with a quick 4-0 run. The Eagles made use of a 6-0 run following a block to pull away and take the set.
The second set started off with a 3-0 AU lead. However, Holy Cross was determined not to fall that easily as they fought back to win 10 of the first 16 points and force AU to take its first timeout. The Eagles could not get anything going and lost the set.
AU continued their sloppy play coming out of halftime, while Holy Cross jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Following a referee miscall, AU was able to tie the match at 4-4 and traded points until the Eagles pulled away with a 10-0 run. AU took care of business from there, finishing the set off with ease.
The fourth set had the most competitive start of the game, as the teams had to work hard to win a point. After getting an 11-7 lead, the Eagles did not look back, winning the match off a Holy Cross hitting error.
Juniors Angelina Waterman and Cassandra Ricketts led the Eagles with 16 kills, but it was Ricketts who separated herself by contributing four assists, eight digs and two blocks to the effort.
“As the season has gone on, Krysta [Cicala] and I have gotten used to each other,” Ricketts said. “We have worked hard in practices together, and it’s starting to show.”
Saturday’s match against Army started with teams trading points back and forth until Waterman took serve at 8-7. She served up three straight points and gave the Eagles the lead they needed in the first set. Despite rallies by the Black Knights, they could never get closer than two points, giving the Eagles a win in the first set.
The second set started with the teams trading points back and forth. However, it was the serving of the Eagles that made the difference in the set. Coming off a time out with AU leading 18-9, Army was able to get some momentum of their own, going for seven straight points to pull within three at 20-17. However, junior Magdalena Tekiel drove a bad pass back into the ground to win the set.
After dropping the third set, things continued to look bleak for the Eagles. Nothing seemed to be working as Army continued to maintain a four-point lead. Things turned around for the Eagles after Goldberg subbed in freshman Bianca Richardson.
Following an AU side out, Richardson was handed the ball to serve. Richardson helped the Eagles to a 7-0 run and a two-point lead. From there, it took good team defense by AU and two errors on the last two points by Army for the Eagles to take the match.
Magdalena Tekiel led the way with a team-high 16 kills, while Cicala added 42 assists, 7 digs and four blocks to the victory. Claire Recht led the Eagles in blocks for the second straight game with six.
The Eagles will travel to Colgate University on Friday, followed by a match at Bucknell University, to finish up the regular season.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
