Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart Blanks Army In Non-League Match
October 05, 2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2011
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Junior outside hitter Ariana Mankus totaled 11 kills, but the Army volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to visiting Sacred Heart in non-conference play Wednesday night at Gillis Field House.
Army fell to 12-6 overall and suffered a home loss for just the third time this season. Sacred Heart (14-5), an NCAA Tournament team a year ago, defeated the Black Knights by a combined nine points (25-22, 25-21, 25-23).
"We need to be able to score points and tonight, we didn't do that efficiently," said fifth-year head coach Alma Kovaci. "Francine (Vasquez) played well, but we didn't get her enough balls. Sacred Heart is a good, well-coached team and showed it tonight.
"We need to learn from this, move forward and refocus on the Patriot League and Holy Cross this weekend," she added.
Army travels to Worcester, Mass., for a single match on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2 p.m.
Vasquez led all Army players with a .316 hitting percentage (seven kills, one error). Senior co-captain Fabiola Castro and sophomore middle blocker Megan Wilton added nine kills apiece. Castro totaled 14 digs, while sophomore libero D.J. Phee and sophomore defensive specialist Lauren Wood added 15 and 13 digs, respectively.
Freshman setter Mary Vaccaro finished with 32 assists, eight digs, two kills and two block assists. Freshman middle hitter Molly McDonald, who earned her fourth career start, put up a career-high four total blocks to go with a pair of kills.
Sacred Heart hit .272 for the match and was led by graduate student Kimmee Roleder and junior middle blocker Johanna Ovsenek with 17 and 10 kills, respectively. Roleder completed a double-double and led all players with 20 kills.
The Pioneers led wire-to-wire in the opening set, jumpstarted by a 7-1 lead out of the gate. A Sacred Heart miscue stepped the run and allowed the Black Knights to get their foot back in the door. The Pioneers held a 17-10 lead midway through, but Army came on strong to finish the set, outscoring Sacred Heart (12-8) down the stretch. Inching within one (23-22) on a Mankus kill, the Black Knights could not complete the rally as Sacred Heart got back to back Roleder kills to end the set (25-22).
The teams played back-and-forth during a second set that featured seven ties and six lead changes. A Roleder kill for Sacred Heart broke a 12-12 tie with a decisive 9-2 run. A Dianis Mercado kill gave the Pioneers a 21-14 lead, but Castro followed with a kill for Army. The Black Knights came alive after Castro's hit, again outscoring Sacred Heart down the stretch (7-4) but unable to finish the rally.
The closest of the three sets, Army led 15-14 midway through the third session. The Pioneers took the lead back with a Roleder kill and an Army error (16-15). Despite Army tying the score three times from there, Sacred Heart never surrendered the lead and fittingly, ended the match Roleder's 17th kill.
Army heads into Saturday's match at Holy Cross looking to improve upon a 3-1 Patriot League record. The Crusaders are 2-2 in conference play. The match will be broadcast live online via www.goholycross.com.
Match Notes: Junior Alicia Dotson has finished with two service aces in each of the last two matches ... she and Lauren Wood came off the bench and accounted for Army's four service aces ... Sacred Heart has beaten Army in each of the last three years ... Army leads the all-time series, 10-3 ... the Pioneers won their first Northeast Conference a year ago ... Army hit below .200 (.156) for the ninth time this season.
