The AU volleyball team won the Patriot League regular season title by sweeping Colgate University Nov. 16 at Bender Arena in three thrilling games to win the Patriot League regular season title.
“It was a really fun game,” senior outside hitter Julie Crum said. “We had a lot of fans out here, it was really loud, and it was definitely a great win.”
From the start, AU (30-2, 15-1, PL) did not disappoint its supporters in the stands. Though the Raiders initially earned a 2-0 advantage, the Eagles fought back with a 6-0 run that included two services aces by junior Monika Smidova. With the Eagles up 6-2, the Raiders were forced to call a timeout.
AU kept Colgate at bay throughout the first set. Colgate did not earn more than one point at a time following the early 2-0 lead. The Eagles kept their lead for the rest of the game and secured the first set 25-19 on a kill by junior outside hitter Kristyna Lindovska.
The second set started off differently for the Eagles. Both teams were neck-in-neck until 5-5, the Raiders started to pull away, pushing their lead to 10-7. However, AU battled back on a 6-1 run that forced another Colgate timeout.
The Eagles did not slow down. They came out of the time out and went on a 6-3 run and eventually won the set 25-19. AU limited Colgate to a .034 hitting percentage in the second game.
The third game was tight all throughout. The set was tied eight times and neither team led by more than four points at any time. AU’s slowly dropped its 12-8 with Colgate gaining the 23-21 lead. AU came right back with three straight points, pushing the game to a match point at 24-23 and forcing Colgate to take a time out. The Eagles endured six match points before securing the win 30-28 on a kill by Lindovska.
“We were so focused the whole game–I think it helped a lot,” Lindovska said about the team’s performance. “We were focused on each ball.”
Three players earned double-digit kills for the Eagles. Lindovska tied the game-high 14 kills. Sophomore Allison Cappellino and Crum posted 10 and 13 kills, respectively.
Smidova notched 36 assists for the Eagles, as well as three of the six AU service aces.
“Beating them 3-0 made a big statement for us and really built up our confidence,” Smidova added.
Prior to the game AU honored its seniors Kylann Scheidt, Morgan Hendrix and Crum as part of the annual Senior Day tradition.
“It was the Senior [Day] and it was our last game of the regular season, so it was really emotion filled,” Crum said. “Especially because it was determining who was going to host [the playoffs] next week.”
AU also honored Coach Barry Goldberg at the match. Goldberg earned his 600th career win this season in a match against Fresno State University on Sept. 20.
The Eagles will host the Patriot League tournament in Bender Arena next weekend on Nov. 23-24. AU will face off against fourth seeded U.S. Military Academy on Nov. 23.
