Black Knights Fall to Colgate in PL Semifinals

Saturday, November 19

Washington, D.C.

4:05 PM

Army West Point

20-11

Colgate

18-10

Army West Point

Colgate

Black Knights Fall to Colgate in PL Semifinals

November 19, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The third-seeded Army West Point volleyball team fell, 3-1, to second seed Colgate Saturday night in the Patriot League Semifinal. The Black Knights fought back to claim the third set, but the Raiders sealed their victory in an extended fourth set.

"I am proud of our team's fight," said head coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "It took us a while to control our jitters and when we did that we played really well. I have to give credit to Colgate, they are an experienced team and played us tough. We fought until the end, but the match just didn't go our way. I am so proud of the team for fighting until the very end."

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND MATCH NOTES

The Black Knights concluded their season with a 20-11 record after today's loss.
Army had a 59-55 advantage in kills over the Raiders, but Colgate held the Cadets to a .183 hitting percentage and boasted a 12-3 edge in blocks which was the difference maker in the match.
Allie Strong led the Black Knights with 14 kills and Vanessa Wesley (11), Carolyn Bockrath (10) and firstie captain Olivia Fairfield (10) all followed with double-digit kills.
Amber Clay amassed the top hitting percentage on the team with a .261 average, while also adding 14 digs.
Shannel Chong led the defensive effort with 24 digs as Nikki Lum chipped in with 15 along with a team-leading 26 assists for a double-double performance.
Haven Bethune also had some time in the setting position and dished out 25 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Colgate took the first set after quite a bit of back-and-forth battling between the two squads. Army trailed by one for a majority of the set, but the Raiders stole it away after reaching 20 points with a 3-0 run at the end.
The Raiders took a 10-point lead in set two after jumping ahead 19-9. Army was unable to rally and Colgate took the set 25-11 to push them ahead 2-0 in the match.
Set three began with Colgate taking a 15-13 lead. The Black Knights would fight back with a 3-0 run to knot the score up at 17-all due to a pair of errors by the Raiders and a kill by Strong.
The two teams exchanged points which bring the score to 20-19 in favor of Colgate.
Army scored five of the next seven points to set itself up for set point at 24-22. The Cadets clinched the set to keep their hopes alive with a kill by Fairfield.
The Fourth set was similar to the third as the teams saw six tie scores up to the 12-12 mark.
The Cadets and Raiders continued to fight back and forth throughout until the set was tied at 22-22.
Colgate would close-out the match on a 4-2 run with a final set score of 26-24 after the Black Knights forced it into extra points.

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