Edwards' Double-Double Sets Volleyball up for Win

Saturday, August 29

Fayetteville, AR

5:30 PM ET

Army West Point

1-2

McNeese

0-3

Army

McNeese State

Edwards' Double-Double Sets Volleyball up for Win

August 29, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Army West Point volleyball team earned its first win of the season with a 3-1 decision over McNeese State with set scores of 25-19, 19-25, 25-14 and 25-23. Setter Vanessa Edwards earned a double-double to fuel two Black Knights to career-high performances. Carolyn Bockrath was named to the Arkansas Invitational All-Tournament Team due to her performance throughout the weekend.

"We had a great team win today," said head coach Alma Kovaci. "Our middles were unbelievable during this match, which is a result of our passing and setting. McNeese was a powerful defensive team, but today's win is a sentiment to our hard preseason training and tough practices. It was nice to see the players that were on the bench come in and change the game, which is what we are all about. We made some changes and the entire team was mentally prepared and that improved our performance. This team is committed to playing for each other and we saw improvements as the weekend went on, which was our goal."

Edwards' double-double performance led the Black Knights to victory over McNeese. She dished out 53 assists and 22 digs through the four sets. She also contributed three blocks to aid Army defensively.

Bockrath and Vanessa Wesley each had career-best performances which fueled the offense alongside Edwards. Bockrath totaled a 28 kills with only one error for a hitting percentage of .659. Wesley tallied 12 kills also with only one error for a .440 average.

Army (1-2) won the first set, 25-19, before the Cowgirls (0-3) struck back to clinch set two, 25-19, which brought the score to a 1-1 draw. After the break, the Black Knights played with an extra fire to win 25-14.

To begin the third set, the Black Knights earned seven-of-nine points to take a 7-2 lead. Olivia Fairfield had a hand in the first two points with a kill and a block alongside Wesley. Then after a McNeese point, Wesley and Amber Clay each attacked and earned a kill. Clay added two more kill points in the stretch, while Bockrath chipped in one.

After the score was 16-13, the Black Knights went on a 10-1 run to clinch the third set with service from Fairlfield and Clay.

In the fourth set, McNeese came out to a 7-2 start before the Black Knights got their rhythm back. Army won five-straight points to tie the set at 7-7 with Ellie Petersen on the serve. Bockrath tallied three kills during that span and Clay chipped in twice.

The remainder of the set was very back-and-forth. Jaden Pickell and Shannel Chong worked together to produce Army's final two points to clinch the match.

The Black Knights held a 64-49 advantage over the Cowgirls in kills and led 15-12 in blocks. Army also tallied four services aces to Mcneese's zero.

Army will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 5 when it hosts the Black Knight Invitational at Christl Arena. Iona, Cornell and William & Mary are set to attend the annual tournament.

For up-to-date information about Army volleyball, please follow @ArmyWP_VB on Twitter and Instagram.

All-Tournament Information:

Champion: Kansas

MVP: Ainise Havili, Kansas
Outstanding Libero: Cassie Wait, Kansas

All-Tournament: Tiana Dockery, Kansas; Kelsie Payne, Kansas; Chanell Clark-Bibbs, Arkansas; Pilar Victoria, Arkansas; Carolyn Bockrath, Army West Point; Rae Myers, McNeese State

Bockrath was named to the All-Tournament Team after accumulating 48 kills on 83 attempts for a .518 hitting percentage in 11 sets. She averaged 5.05 points per set to rank first on the team. Bockrath also tallied 10 digs and 12 blocks in the three matches.