Army Takes Final Three Sets in Win over Crusaders

Tuesday, October 18

West Point, NY

7 PM

Army West Point

15-8, 7-2PL

Holy Cross

6-16, 2-7PL

Holy Cross

Army

Army Takes Final Three Sets in Win over Crusaders

October 18, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point volleyball won its fourth match in a row after defeating Holy Cross, 3-1, Tuesday night to improve to 15-8 on the year and 7-2 in the Patriot League. Three Cadets notched double-double performances in the win.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND MATCH NOTES

For the third match in a row, Allie Strong led the Black Knights in kills with a career-high 18. The freshman also added 13 digs in the match and two service aces to record her fourth double-double of the season.
Olivia Fairfield and Amber Clay also posted double-doubles. Fairfield totaled 14 kills and 14 digs, while Clay had 10 kills and 17 digs for Army.
Vanessa Wesley recorded double-digit kills for the 11th time this season with 15. Carolyn Bockrath was also a contributor to the offense with seven kills.
Nikki Lum dished out a career-high 35 assists in tonight's match as Haven Bethune tallied 27.
Shannel Chong recorded 20 digs tonight and added an assist.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Crusaders and Black Knights went back-and-forth in the first set which featured 10 tie scores and six lead changes.
Army took a 15-13 advantage in the first set, but Holy Cross fought back to take a 21-17 lead late in the set. The Cadets stayed in the set until the in with kills by Fairfield, Wesley and Gearon and held the Crusaders at set point for three attempts before they would win 25-21.
In set two, the Cadets jumped out to a 17-11 lead after going on a 7-0 run fueled by Strong who tallied three kills in that stretch.
The duo of Wesley and Fairfield at the net notched three blocks during the second set. One of those gave the Black Knights a 23-18 lead to force a Holy Cross timeout. Clay then tallied a kill before Holy Cross committed an error to give Army the set 25-18.
The Cadets pulled away from Holy Cross in the third set to take a convincing 20-14 lead. They finished the set on a 5-4 run with a kill by Wesley and ace by Lum.
The Black Knights led by 10 (17-7) in the fourth set which forced a Holy Cross timeout. The Crusaders bounced back on a 7-2 run to bring the score to 19-14 still in favor of the Cadets.
Army finished the set on a 7-1 run to defeat the Crusaders 25-16 in the set and 3-1 in the match.

COACHES CORNER

"Holy Cross played us tough today," said head coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "Mandy Sifferlen is quite a special player and they fought really hard. I give them credit for a tough match. I thought we got better as the game went on and we are proud of our defensive game in the last three sets. We are looking forward to playing Colgate on Friday."

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