Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
6-10, 2-2Patriot
Colgate
6-6, 0-2Patriot
Volleyball Shuts Down Colgate
September 27, 2014 | Volleyball
Box Score | Box Score (PDF) | 
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WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army volleyball team put forth a dominating performance on Saturday evening in a 3-0 win over Colgate at Gillis Field House. The Black Knights took the match with set scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-15.
The result pushes Army to 2-2 in Patriot League play and 6-10 on the year. Colgate drops to 6-6 and 1-3 in conference matches.
"Tonight's match was a great win for our team," head coach Alma Kovaci said. "The result it is a direct result of our practices throughout the week. Coach Lusk did a great job focusing on blocking and Coach Barzey's defensive gameplan were executed extremely well and we were able to stay on our serve and block system. I am very proud of our performance and overall it was a team win. Like I said before, it all started in our practices and it showed on the court today. We outworked our opponent, but we also still have some work to do. The sky is the limit for this team. "
As a team, the Black Knights posted season highs in blocks (12) and aces (11). Sophomore Alexandra Bell equaled her career high with four blocks and tied for the team high in that category with Carolyn Bockrath. In addition to her four rejections, Bockrath was credited with seven kills and posted a .538 hitting percentage. Setter Vanessa Edwards helped the cause by posting a team and career-high four service aces. Army's offense ran through Edwards, who handed out 20 assists, while also contributing six digs.
In all, four players registered at least five kills, led by Amber Clay's eight. Freshman Vanessa Wesley matched her season high with six kills, finishing the night with a .214 hitting percentage, and junior Nicole Perri added five kills. At libero, senior Deanna Dalton paced the Army defense with nine digs. Senior Kristin Smeland had seven digs and also put in a season-high three aces.
A 15-4 Army run broke the first set open as it trailed 10-6 in the early going. A Wesley spike started the run of five consecutive points that forced a Colgate timeout (12-10) and Army never looked back. A kill by Bockrath made it 13-12 in favor of the home team and put Clay in serving position for three straight Army points (16-12). From that point, back-to-back aces by Edwards polished off the run (21-14) as Army cruised to a 1-0 lead in the match.
Leading 5-4 in the second set, five straight by Army allowed the Black Knights to expand their advantage to 10-4. A service error gave the ball to Colgate, but Army answered with five of the next six points as the lead ballooned to 15-6. Colgate trimmed the deficit to six at 16-10, but Army closed the game with nine of the final 11 points.
After playing to a 6-6 tie through the first 12 points in the decisive third set, Army erased any doubt of a Colgate comeback by scoring six straight points to spark a 13-2 run. Leading 19-8 following an Edwards kill, Army went on to the 25-15 win and 3-0 sweep.
Army continues its three-match homestand on Oct. 4 when it hosts Loyola at Gillis Field House. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. |
