The American University volleyball team (22-4) swept the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds (7-18) on Nov. 7 in the team’s final regular season home game of the year. This win secured a top-two seed for the Eagles in the Patriot League championship tournament, meaning the team will not play a quarterfinal match in the tournament for the first time since the 2020 season, when they fell to the Colgate Raiders in the semifinals.
American entered the match on a prolific win streak, undefeated for 12 matches and dropping just five sets in the span. The Eagles collected various league awards, including seven honors for Patriot League Rookie of the Week given to freshman outside hitter Sophie Dufour and a Patriot League Player of the Week award to junior middle blocker Prinzez Zeck. American sat in first place in the Patriot League after notching wins at Army and Colgate on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, respectively.
The team controlled its own destiny for the No. 1 seed in the conference and the privilege of hosting the semifinals and final. A win against the Greyhounds would be the first step towards that hosting privilege. Loyola most recently dropped a four-set match against the Holy Cross Crusaders on Nov. 1.
The Eagles played the Greyhounds close at the beginning of the first set, tying the score at 7 points apiece. Two kills from Zeck lengthened the Eagles’ lead, allowing them to pull away.
A 3rd kill from Zeck, 3 from sophomore outside hitter Salme Adeele Hollas and an ace from freshman libero Alex Ioannou comprised most of American’s scoring effort in the latter part of the set. The Eagles took it with relative ease 25-15.
The second set began in a similar fashion to the first. Loyola tied American at 8-8 before the Eagles found a spurt of offense to help them gain a lead. Four kills from Dufour and a sequence of a kill, an ace and a forced error from sophomore middle blocker Elise Sterling widened American’s advantage, eventually winning the set 25-16.
Up 2-0, the Eagles coasted through the third set with 15 of the team’s 25 points coming from kills. The team’s outside hitters produced 6, the middle blockers another 6, 2 from junior opposite hitter Carly Sciborski and a final dunk from sophomore setter Deniz Dakak earned the set win. Loyola showed some resistance, but never pieced together a scoring run greater than 3 points and American called a timeout to stop any momentum. The Eagles closed out the sweep with a 25-14 set victory.
American ended the regular season with an 11-1 record at home, with seven of those wins being sweep victories.
“We’ve been riding the high, but also still working really hard, and it’s been feeling really good,” Sciborski said.
Sciborski closed out the first set with a kill and notched three more with a .500 hitting percentage on the day. She and junior setter Maddy Stewart hold the longest tenure on the team, with this fall being the end of their third seasons. The team did not hold a senior day this year because there aren’t any seniors on the team.
“We are a young team, but we don’t feel like it at this point in the season. All of these girls are going to practice and work just as hard as every other class would,” she said.
Dufour led the team in kills on the day with 11, followed by 9 from Hollas and 8 from Zeck. Dakak posted a double-double, tallying 35 assists and 12 digs on the day. She and sophomore libero Bella Marrero tied for the team lead in digs with 12 each.
After a sweep win on Nov. 9 at the Navy Midshipmen and a Colgate loss to the Bucknell Bison on Nov. 8, the Eagles will host the semifinals and final of the Patriot League tournament, to be played on Nov. 21 and 23, respectively.
“Anywhere we can get rest is going to be beneficial,” head coach Ahen Kim said. “This game was huge because we get that bye on the Tuesday night match, so we don’t have to play that game. We had it the last two years, so getting a little bit of additional rest there, I think, would be big for us too.”
“This thing isn’t over. This thing is a marathon, and it will continue to be a marathon, especially if we can’t get a little more precise with our hitting. What’s really good for us is we have a lot of people contributing,” Kim said.
After notching two more wins to close out their season, the Eagles and their 15-match win streak return home to face the Navy Midshipmen in a Patriot League Championship semifinal match on Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m.
This article was edited by Matthias Jaylen Sandoval, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Avery Grossman, Ava Stuzin.
