The AU volleyball team defeated Navy, 3-1, Oct. 26 in Annapolis, Md., for its fourth straight Patriot League victory. Now, the Eagles are set up with a chance to make a run at one of the top two seeds in the conference tournament with four matches remaining.
The Eagles defeated the Midshipmen in set scores of 25-20, 25-10, 21-25 and 25-21.
Sara Rishell led the AU attack against the Midshipmen by posting a game-high 16 kills off a .344 hitting percentage. Rishell, who is fourth in the Patriot League in kills per set and ninth in blocks per set, was one of the honorable mentions for the Patriot League weekly awards.
Morgan Hendrix also turned in a strong performance for the Eagles (16-9, 7-3 PL), tallying a match-best .533 hitting percentage. Hendrix, who leads the conference in hitting percentage (.313) and blocks (1.34 bps), recorded nine kills and a game-high seven blocks.
In her first game back after sitting out multiple matches due to a concussion, setter Kylann Scheidt was one of five AU players to hit .300 or better. Scheidt recorded a match-best 39 assists and ranks third in the PL in the category (8.28 aps).
Allison Cappellino won her second straight Molten Patriot League Rookie of the Week award, her fifth of the season, in part because of her team-high 12 digs. She also posted a dozen digs in AU’s Oct. 23 loss against the University of Maryland.
Cappellino is among the best in the Patriot League in multiple categories, as she ranks third in digs (4.06 dps) and fifth in service aces (25).
Erin Fortner and Carolyn Ewert paced Navy (9-13, 5-5 PL) in the loss, totaling 16 and 10 kills, respectively.
As the Patriot League Tournament draws closer, the Eagles are two games back of first-place Colgate and one game behind second-place Army.
AU split its two matches with Army this season and were swept at Colgate Oct. 13. The Raiders will visit Bender Arena Nov. 9.
Next up for the Eagles is a trip to the Lehigh Valley, where they will take on Lehigh Nov. 2 and Lafayette Nov. 3, hoping to narrow the gap at the top of the conference standings.
sports@theeagleonline.com
