Volleyball Falls to Bucknell in Four Sets

Friday, November 13

Lewisburg, PA

5 PM

Army West Point

12-320-8,, PL

Bucknell

13-12, 7-8PL

ARMY

BUCKNELL

Volleyball Falls to Bucknell in Four Sets

November 13, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. – After leading the match 1-0, the Army West Point volleyball team suffered a 3-1 deficit to Bucknell Friday night. The Black Knights stumbled against the Bison in set scores of 16-25, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23.

The Black Knights fell to 20-8 overall and 12-3 in the Patriot League. The Bison are the only team in the conference aside from American that has defeated Army this season.

"Bucknell played really well tonight," said head coach Alma Kovaci. "Their top hitters did an excellent job against us. We started off tough in set one. We had many leads in the other games, but did not capitalize on them. It was a bad loss, but a good lesson for the team. It is time to refocus and get ready for a tough Lehigh."

Vanessa Edwards recorded a career-high 63 assists in tonight's match. This bests her previous high of 61 which she set on two previous occasions. The setter also tallied seven digs.

Three Cadets had double-digit kills in the match. Carolyn Bockrath led the Black Knights offensively with 22 kills, a match-high. Olivia Fairfield tallied 14 kills and Jaden Pickell recorded 12. Vanessa Wesley had nine kills and Nicole Perri recorded seven. Amber Clay had 15 digs, while Shannel Chong recorded 14 and Ellie Peterson added 11.

The Black Knights jumped out to a 14-6 lead over the Bison in the first set. Army closed out the first set on an 11-10 run. Perri kicked it off with a kill before Wesley was assisted by Edwards. Bucknell recorded a service error to give the Cadets a 17-8 advantage.

Pickell subbed in and earned two kills, one from Wesley and one from Edwards. Bockrath tallied one kill from Fairfield and one from Edwards Bockrath, Perri and Fairfield were all assisted by Edwards to close out the set.

Army took an 11-7 lead in set two, but the Bison fought back to tie things up at 11-all. Bucknell then earned three-straight points to take a 14-12 advantage. Army brought the set within one at 17-16, still in favor of Bucknell.

Clay and Bockrath recorded kills to bring the Cadets to 19 points compared to Bucknell's 21. The Black Knights held the Bison at match point as Army chipped away at their 24-20 lead. Perri earned a kill and a service ace to keep the Cadets in the set but a kill by the Bison gave them set point.

After the break, Army took a 16-13 advantage, but the Bison chipped away at that edge 4-3 run. With the score at 19-17 in favor of the Cadets, Bucknell was able to come back and tie the score at 19-19. The Bison then took a 20-19 lead after an attacking error by the Black Knights, but a kill by Wesley and a ball handling error by Bucknell pushed Army ahead 21-20.

Bucknell took a timeout then quickly earned a kill and ace to take a 22-21 lead. Fairfield was assisted by Edwards to re-tie the score at 22-all before Bucknell recorded three-straight kills to in the set 25-22.

In set four, Army led 9-7, but called a timeout after the Bison come back from a 6-1 deficit. The Black Knights continued to push ahead, however, to take a 12-9 advantage. Bucknell relentlessly closed the gap and eventually tied the set at 19-all.

Army took a two point lead after a kill by Wesley and an attacking error by the Bison. Bucknell re-tied the score at 21-21 and continued on to win 25-23 to clinch the match.

The Black Knights return to action Saturday, Nov. 14, for their final regular season match. Army will take on Lehigh at 4 p.m.

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

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