Volleyball Falls to American on the Road

Friday, October 2

Washington, DC

7 PM

Army West Point

10-6, 2-1

American

11-5, 3-0

Army

American

Volleyball Falls to American on the Road

October 02, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Army West Point volleyball team suffered a 3-0 road loss to top seeded American Friday night in Washington, D.C., with set scores of 25-15, 25-20 and 25-14.

"American is a great team and they caught us on a bad day," said head coach Alma Kovaci. "We are able to perform much better than how we did tonight. Our serve and pass struggled and American was able to capitalize on that. We will talk about this to improve, but will focus on the game against Loyola tomorrow."

The Black Knights move to 10-6 on the season and 2-1 in the Patriot League. Carolyn Bockrath led Army offensively with 10 kills on 24 attempts. Shannel Chong helped out defensively with 16 digs, while Vanessa Edwards recorded her seventh-straight double-double of the year with 26 assists and 10 digs.

The Cadets and Eagles each went on a four point run to begin the match. First American led 4-0, but Army came back to tie the score at 4-all. The Black Knights earned a point off a service error by the Eagles before a kill from Amber Clay and two kills by Bockrath.

American went on another four point run to take an 8-4 lead, but Vanessa Wesley subbed in for Army and earned a kill from Edwards. The Black Knights rallied back to trail 11-10 with another kill by Wesley and a ball handling error by American. Jaden Pickell joined the mix and was assisted by Edwards to tack on another Black Knight point to cut the Eagles' lead to 12-11.

The Eagles then went on a 9-2 run to take a 21-13 lead and essentially clinched the set.

After dropping the first set 25-15, the Black Knights found some rhythm during set two. Army jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Eagles with points from Wesley, Bockrath and two by Nicole Perri. American then took a 6-5 lead with five straight points before a 4-1 Army run to regain the lead at 9-7 due to two attack errors by American and Perri and Wesley kills.

The Black Knights maintained their lead until the score was 12-11 before the Eagles struck back and would either lead the rest of the set.

In set three, American took a 7-1 lead and Army wasn't able to chip its way back into the set. The final set score was 25-14.

The Black Knights will be back in action to face the Greyhounds Saturday at 5 p.m.

"Loyola will be another tough team to face at their home court," Kovaci said. "They run a really good offense and have some key hitters that rank in the conference. Overall, it will be a great weekend of competition before returning to Gillis Field House."

Loyola has a season record of 5-12 and is 0-2 in Patriot League play. The Greyhounds have earned wins over Howard, South Carolina State, Saint Francis, Manhattan and North Carolina Central. Loyola has fallen to conference opponents Lehigh and Lafayette in three-set matches.

Stacey Kazalas leads the Greyhounds in kills with 194 and averages 3.03 kills per set to rank seventh in the conference. Molly Cichosz follows closely behind with 192 kills for a .157 hitting percentage. Molly Werts leads the team in assists per set with 8.54, which ranks her fifth in the league.

Haley Puddy's 68 total blocks rank seventh amongst NCAA Division I freshmen, and in that same group, she is eighth nationally in total points (215.5). Micah Duzey ranks fifth in the Patriot League in digs per set with an average of 3.57 and 225 total on the year.

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

How to Follow vs. Loyola:
Livestats – http://loyolagreyhounds.cstv.com/gametracker/launch/?event=1433243&school=locl&sport=wvolley&