The American University volleyball team (8-4) defeated the Army Black Knights (7-4) in four sets in Bender Arena on Sept. 20. The Eagles pulled away in the middle of the second set, winning the third and fourth sets by 10 and 16 points, respectively.
American entered this match with some level of exhaustion, after suffering a five-set loss to the Colgate Raiders the previous night. Army continued its southward trip, defeating the Navy Midshipmen in four sets the previous night.
Army’s team contains two of the most dangerous outside hitters in the Patriot League: senior Mackenzie Lynch and junior Chloe Murakami. Both ranked in the top 10 in the conference in kills last season. Murakami also ranked eighth in points in the Patriot League.
The Eagles’ wear showed in the first set, which let Army spring out to a quick lead in the first set. The Black Knights found themselves up 4 or more points for a significant portion of the set, and American was unable to find a run to turn the tide. Despite a 3-0 run from the Eagles on Army’s set point, the Black Knights still won the set 25-20, meaning at least three more sets awaited the Eagles if they wished to win the match.
Army’s hitting prowess continued to show in the second set with Murakami and Lynch both contributing kills to put the Black Knights up 8-3 rapidly. American found runs to match Army’s offense this time; a 4-0 run followed soon after by an 8-1 run burned both of the Black Knights' timeouts for the set and gave American an 18-16 lead, its first lead in the match overall.
The teams traded points for the rest of the set, with sophomore middle blocker Elise Sterling notching her sixth kill of the day to tie the match score 1-1.
Despite stalling out at the end of the previous set, Army persevered. It took a 2-1 lead early in the set, and held on until the Eagles’ offense got rolling. A 7-0 run bookended by blocks brought American up to a 10-6 set lead, and the team would not trail the Black Knights for the rest of the match.
The offense took off from this point, with five separate Eagles notching kills to lengthen American’s lead. The fifth of those was junior opposite hitter Carly Sciborski, her kill sealing the set for the Eagles. The final set score was 25-15, and the Eagles led 2-1.
The fourth set was a rout of the Black Knights, with kills from the same five players, 5 from sophomore outside hitter Salme Adeele Hollas on her own and four aces. Army was never able to get any momentum in the set, and American closed out the match with a 25-9 set win.
“What a way to respond,” head coach Ahen Kim said after the match. “Every match is a new puzzle, and today’s match is going to have different challenges than yesterday’s match.”
The Eagles’ defense held Murakami and Lynch to a total of 21 kills, and hitting percentages of 14.140 and 9.4.094, respectively.
Hollas’ 14 kills led the team, followed by Sterling and Dufour’s 12 each. Sophomore setter Deniz Dakak notched 41 assists, while sophomore libero Bella Marrero tallied 19 digs to lead the team.
“That was a great way to come off of last night’s game,” Marrero said. “We had a conversation last night to be more in system, more unexpected, and less predictable. I think Deniz [Dakak] and our hitters did an amazing job executing that properly.”
American continues its home stand on Sept. 26 against the Navy Midshipmen.
This article was edited by Matthias Jaylen Sandoval, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Ariana Kavoossi.
