Volleyball Cruises Past Iona

Saturday, September 5

West Point, NY

11 AM

Army West Point

2-2

Iona

2-3

Iona

Army

Volleyball Cruises Past Iona

September 05, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point volleyball team opened the 2015 Black Knights Invitational with a decisive 3-0 victory over Iona on Saturday morning at Christl Arena.

The result improved the Black Knights to 2-2 overall, while Iona dipped to 2-3 on the season.

Jaden Pickell paced Army offensively with 13 kills. Vanessa Wesley recorded seven kills and Carolyn Bockrath notched six kills in the win. Nicole Perri and Olivia Fairfield each added five kills for the Black Knights. Wesley's hitting percentage of .462 led the way for the Black Knights and Bockrath posted a mark of .400. Vanessa Edwards handed out 32 assists, six digs and four aces.

The Black Knights scored the first three points of the opening set before Iona reeled of six consecutive points and seven of eight to take a 7-4 lead. A kill by Wesley stopped the run briefly, before Army used a timeout trailing 10-5.

After the stoppage, a block by Olivia Fairfield ignited a 4-0 run by the Black Knights that included a kill by Jaden Pickell and Ellie Petersen's ace.

Army eventually clawed back into the match and tied it at 12-12 after a kill by Wesley. A solo block by Wesley, followed by a combo block by Wesley and Edwards, and Rachel Gearon's ace forced Iona to call timeout after Army's 10-2 run that put it in front 15-12.

The lead stretched to as many as six (20-14), but Iona scored five of the next six points to pull within two at 21-19. A Pickell kill ended the Iona run and the Black Knights claimed the initial set by a 25-21 score.

Army led nearly the entire second set en route to a 25-19 triumph as it took a 2-0 lead in the match. Pickell's kill had the Black Knights in front 12-8 through the first 20 points, before the Gaels knotted the score at 13 apiece. Edwards countered with a kill and Fairfield found a soft spot in the Iona defense to keep Army in control at 15-13. Bockrath's kill inside the line extended the Army advantage to 19-15 and the hosts never looked back.

Army jumped out to a 12-8 edge in the third set and forced an Iona timeout after Wesley's block. Moments later, the advantage ballooned to 16-9 when Pickell and Wesley combined on a block. An Iona error caused the Gaels to use their second timeout trailing 17-9. An Iona ball handling error gave Army its largest lead of the day at 24-14 and the Black Knights closed the match with a 25-16 win in the final set.

Army's next match in the Black Knights Invitational is Saturday night at 7 p.m. when it plays William & Mary. The match can be seen live on the Patriot League Network.