AU Volleyball Welcomes Army, Holy Cross to Bender Arena This Weekend

Oct. 23, 2008

WASHINGTON -

The American University volleyball team will return home this weekend to face rival Army and Holy Cross in a pair of Patriot League matches. Friday's match with the Black Knights will help to kick off AU Athletics' Alumni and Friends Weekend while Saturday's contest against the Crusaders will serve as the Eagles Senior Night.

Upcoming Schedule

Last Time Out

The American University volleyball team defeated Colgate on Saturday, 3-0, to remain unbeaten in the Patriot League at 7-0 and extend its winning streak to 10 matches. Senior Rubena Sukaj and freshman Rebecca Heath each tallied double-digit kills for the Eagles in their 25-22, 25-16, 25-23 win.

Rubena Sukaj led all scorers with 15 kills and added eight digs and four block assists on defense. Rebecca Heath tallied 11 kills in the win while hitting .333 for the match and adding four digs. Ann Recht and Claire Recht recorded five and six kills, respectively, and totaled three and five blocks, respectively. Christina Nash notched 40 assists to lead AU to a combined .284 hitting percentage. Junior Ivana Cebakova led AU's defensive unit with 13 digs as the Eagles held Colgate to a .124 hitting percentage.

Eagles News & Notes

• The Eagles have won 10 straight matches and hold a record of 15-6, 7-0 PL, heading into the weekend. 12 of AU's 15 wins have come in straight sets, 3-0. AU also owns a 15-match winning streak against PL opponents dating back to last season.
• Senior outside hitter Rubena Sukaj became the PL's all-time leader in kills on Sept. 12, scoring 14 kills against Harvard. The following day Sukaj became the conference's all-time leader in aces when she recorded two against Dartmouth. Sukaj now has 1,934 career kills, 276 career aces and also holds the American University record for each.
• Freshman Rebecca Heath set a Patriot League record on Oct. 13 for most consecutive PL Rookie of the Week honors with her fifth straight. Heath's five weekly awards from the conference ties the record for most in a season. Rubena Sukaj also set a new PL mark with her 12th career PL Player of the Week honor that same week and is one award shy of tying her 2007 record of five weekly awards in one season.
• Senior setter Christina Nash has moved into the sixth spot on the PL's all-time assists list and is still moving up. Nash has recorded 3,562 career assists and is 247 assists shy of tying Lehigh's Patty Watson for fifth all-time in the conference. Nash is currently third on AU's career list and is 653 behind Tricia Gilbert, '91, for second all-time.
• Junior libero Ivana Cebakova has tallied 1,102 career digs and is second all-time at AU behind only Natasha Sylvain's, '95, career mark of 1,865. Cebakova also entered the season as the school's career leader in digs per set at 3.78 and this season is averaging 3.76.
• With her seventh block assist on Oct. 11 against NJIT, junior Claire Recht moved into fifth place on AU's career total blocks list. Recht now has 212 total blocks in her career and is 104 behind Natasha Sylvain, `95, for fourth all-time. Her 185 career block assists also puts her at fifth in school history. Recht needs 44 block assists to tie Sylvain for fourth.
• The Eagles currently rank first in the PL in hitting percentage (.282), blocks per set (2.17) and service aces (2.05). AU also ranks second in assists per set (12.03), kills per set (13.44) and opponent hitting percentage (.185). Individually, Sukaj leads the conference with 4.30 kps and is third in aces at 0.49. Sophomore Katerina Cinkova leads the PL in blocks per set at 1.07 and is followed closely by junior Claire Recht who ranks second at 0.97. Recht is also second in the conference with a .353 hitting percentage and Nash ranks second in assists with 10.31. Cebakova is third with 3.76 dps.

Scouting the Opponents

Army (19-2, 7-0): Army enters Friday night's contest looking to extend its eight-match win streak and tops in the conference in kills (13.67), assists (12.48) and opponent hitting percentage (.129). Jamie Clark leads the PL with a .418 hitting percentage and averages 0.97 bps on defense. Maureen Bannon has guided the Black Knights to a combined .281 hitting percentage while dishing out 10.64 aps. Briana Stremick compliments Clark on both the attack and on defense, averaging 3.07 kps and 0.72 bps.

AU is 19-2 all-time against Army. The Black Knights are the only team in the PL to defeat American since the Eagles joined the conference in 2001 and have done so twice, including a 3-1 win last season in Bender Arena.

Holy Cross (1-18, 0-7): The Crusaders enter the weekend suffering an 11-match losing streak and have not won a match since Sept. 13 against Wagner, 3-2. Holy Cross' attack is led by Samantha Surface and Liz Auger who average 2.57 kps and 2.54 kps, respectively. Defensively, Angela Chisholm notches 3.31 dps and is complimented by Chelsey O'Donnell at 2.31 dps.

American owns a perfect 15-0 record against the Crusaders including a 3-1 win in Worcester, Mass., and a 3-0 win in Bender last season.