The Eagles celebrate a big point during the first set of their match against Navy on Nov. 21. Credit: Courtesy of AU Athletics
The American University volleyball team (24-4) swept the Navy Midshipmen (13-14) on Nov. 21 in Bender Arena. This game was a Patriot League Tournament semifinal matchup, and the win sent American to the final on Nov. 23 where the Army Black Knights awaited.
The Eagles held the #1 seed in the Patriot League and had a bye in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. The team carried a 15-match winning streak into this contest, most recently sweeping the Lafayette Leopards on the road to end its regular season. The Midshipmen, seeded fifth in the Patriot League Tournament, traveled to play the Bucknell Bison on Nov. 18, winning the match in five sets to advance to the semifinals.
Army defeated the defending champion Colgate Raiders in five sets earlier in the evening, after advancing to the semifinals on a sweep at home against Lehigh on Nov. 18.
Before the match, American was presented with all of its postseason awards, with head coach Ahen Kim and his staff winning the Barry Goldberg Coaching Staff of the Year award, freshman outside hitter Sophie Dufour bringing in the conference’s Rookie of the Year award, sophomore libero Bella Marrero winning the Libero of the Year award and sophomore setter Deniz Dakak taking home both the Patriot League’s Setter and Player of the Year awards. After the presentation, the match began.
American’s offense got off to a rocky start in the first set before settling down and taking a lead. Kim described Navy’s defense as “heavily adaptable,” adjusting very quickly to whatever the Eagles were doing on offense, and it showed in the first set. American benefitted from four errors Navy made to lengthen their lead from 8-7 up to 12-8.
American’s lead would only grow through the remainder of the first set as it found its footing on offense, getting Dakak involved with 2 kills late in the set. Sophomore outside hitter Salme Adeele Hollas diced up Navy’s offense despite underperformance from the rest of the team, hitting 4 kills in the first set alone. The Eagles took that first set with relative ease, 25-12.
Navy scored more points in the second set, but wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunities it had. Navy gained momentum from all sources, including a service error from American and a tone-setting kill from senior middle blocking phenom Ava Toppin, but then found itself committing a service error or letting up another kill to American.
Despite the Midshipmen’s best efforts, American still pulled away in the later stages of the second set. Dufour and junior middle blocker Prinzez Zeck, both part of the All Patriot League First Team, notched multiple kills, growing the Eagles’ lead to 8 points at the end of the set and a 25-17 win.
American stormed out to a large lead in the start of the third set, going up 7-2 before Navy could blink. The lead did not change much throughout the first half of the set; runs of points landing at a 5-point edge for the Eagles. Near the middle of the set, Navy went on a run, tying the score at 14 from an offensive effort from Toppin and Navy’s other front-row hitters.
The score tied four times after Navy’s run, but Dakak broke the stalemate with an ace, leading the Eagles to go up 19-18 and not turn back. They posted a 6-2 run to close the set and the match, ending it on Marrero’s second ace of the night.
“Hats off to Navy. I thought they were one of the best second half teams in the league, in the back of it, they really showed up,” Kim said.
The Eagles totaled 14 blocks in the game, two solo blocks each from Zeck and junior opposite hitter Carly Sciborski.
Hollas praised the team’s culture.
“It’s been great, the team environment is so good, and I think that’s why we’ve done so well,” she said.
Her 13 kills were the highest mark on the team for the match, followed closely behind by Dufour’s 9. Dakak notched another double-double, tallying 14 digs to lead the team to match her team-leading 28 assists. Marrero and freshman libero Alex Ioannou both served two aces on the match to tie for the team lead.
With the victory, the Eagles advanced to the Patriot League Tournament final to play Army Black Knights on Nov. 22. They defeated Army in straight sets.
“In the last few matches, Army has been incredible. Since we played them, they beat Lehigh in three and took it to Colgate in a big set five earlier. So, in a weird way, are we going to be prepared? No doubt about it,” Kim said.
This article was edited by Matthias Jaylen Sandoval, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Avery Grossman.
