Oct 29, 2008

AU Volleyball Travels to Navy on Thursday


Oct. 29, 2008

WASHINGTON -

The American University volleyball team will take on Navy this Thursday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. in Annapolis, Md., as the Eagles look to remain unbeaten in Patriot League play. AU enters the match riding a 12-match winning streak and with a perfect 9-0 conference mark.

Upcoming Schedule

Thursday, Oct. 30 at Navy 7 p.m.

Last Time Out

The American University volleyball team defeated Holy Cross, 3-0, Saturday afternoon as the Eagles celebrated Senior Day. Ivana Cebakova, Christina Nash, Tessa Paganini and Rubena Sukaj were each honored for their careers at AU during a halftime ceremony.

Nash tallied 29 assists and five kills as she guided AU's offense to a combined .378 hitting percentage. Eight different Eagles recorded a kill in the win led by eight from Rebecca Heath and seven from Katerina Cinkova. AU also recorded 10 aces in the win, including five from Cebakova and three from Heath.

Cebakova paced AU's defense, which held Holy Cross to a -.039 hitting percentage, with 11 digs. Ann Recht notched four total blocks and Angelina Waterman added there total as American finished the match with nine blocks.

Eagles News & Notes

  • The Eagles have won 12 straight matches and hold a record of 17-6, 9-0 PL, heading into the weekend. 14 of AU's 17 wins have come in straight sets, 3-0. AU also owns a 17-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 1,951 career kills, 277 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 Sukaj's record for most in a season. 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 3,624 career assists and is 185 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 591 behind Tricia Gilbert, '91, for second all-time.
  • Junior libero Ivana Cebakova has tallied 1,119 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 3.69.
  • 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 214 total blocks in her career and is 102 behind Natasha Sylvain, `95, for fourth all-time. Her 187 career block assists also puts her at fifth in school history. Recht needs 42 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

Navy (15-10, 3-6): Navy will enter Thursday's match coming off a 3-0 shutout of Coppin State which ended a 1-5 skid for the Mids. They are led by middle blocker Alexa Gibbs who is averaging 3.33 kps, 0.71 bps and holds a .343 hitting percentage. Setter Marissa Watson has dished out 8.83 aps this season and is also averaging 2.06 dps. Krista Eschelman leads the team in blocks at 0.81 bps.

AU and Navy have already met once this season on Oct. 10 in Bender Arena. The Eagles gutted out a 3-2 win in the match after falling behind one set to none. Rubena Sukaj scored 20 kills in the match and was complimented by Rebecca Heath who added 19.

American holds a 25-12-1 advantage over the Mids in the all-time series. AU has not lost to Navy in 16 matches since joining the PL in 2001.