American Tops Volleyball in League Tournament

Saturday, November 22

Washington, D.C.

1:00 PM

Army West Point

14-16

No. 1 American

25-6

Army

American

American Tops Volleyball in League Tournament

November 22, 2014 | Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Army volleyball season came to a close on Saturday afternoon when the team fell to top-seeded American in the Patriot League Tournament semifinal at Bender Arena. The Black Knights lost the match 3-0 by set scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-14.

The Army volleyball season came to a close on Saturday afternoon when the team fell to top-seeded American in the Patriot League Tournament semifinal at Bender Arena. The Black Knights lost the match 3-0 by set scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-14.

"I am so proud of this team for fighting through adversity and making it to the tournament," head coach Alma Kovaci said. "We played really well in the first game, but our youth didn't allow us to win those critical points to close out the set. We will come back better and stronger next year and despite some of our losses, this was one of my favorite seasons as a coach. I am very proud of the seniors for working hard all year and they served as great role models for our freshmen on and off the court."

Army tallied the first point of the opening set on a Jaden Pickell kill. After American went back on top, 2-1, Nicole Perri tied it up at two apiece. The Eagles then scored the next six points to take an early 8-2 lead. After trailing by six at 16-10, Army slowly crept back into the set and went on a 4-0 run to reduce the deficit to just two, forcing an American timeout. American followed that up with a 5-2 run to take a 21-16 lead as the Black Knights were forced to use a timeout of their own. Army brought it back to 21-18, but the Eagles finished off the set on a 4-1 run, capped off by a Kristyna Lindovska spike.

Perri tied up the second set at 1-1, but that was as close as Army would come in the second frame. The second set was all American as the Eagles built a 10-2 lead and extended that lead to 13 points at 19-6. A kill from Pickell put the Black Knights on a quick 3-0 run, but the Eagles were too much.

Leading 2-0, American broke a 5-5 tie in the decisive third set with three straight points. Army pulled within a point on a kill by Carolyn Bockrath and an American miscue, but the Eagles never relinquished the lead after putting together a 7-2 run to go up by seven. Perri had another kill to make it 15-9 before American ended the match on a 10-5 run to advance to the conference championship.

Perri led Army with nine kills and three digs, while Bockrath contributed eight kills and a pair of digs. Avery Alexander added 25 assists along with six digs and Amber Clay posted seven kills and five digs.

Army closes its 2014 season with a 14-16 overall record.