Volleyball Drops 3-1 Decision to UConn

Friday, September 16

West Point, NY

5 PM

Army West Point

7-5

UCONN

8-2

UCONN

Army

Volleyball Drops 3-1 Decision to UConn

September 16, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point volleyball team dropped its opening match of the West Point Invitational, 3-1, to the University of Connecticut Friday evening at Gillis Field House.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Vanessa Wesley led the Black Knights with 13 kills and was followed by Sydney Morriss who tallied 12. Wesley led both sides with a .524 hitting percentage in the match and added six blocks.
Olivia Fairfield and Amber Clay also pitched in offensively with 15 kills combined. The pair were also responsible for eight blocks.
Haven Bethune tallied a career-high 40 assists opposite the Huskies while also notching six digs and a service ace.
Clay and Nikki Lum led the team with 10 digs apiece, while Megan Bryn recorded eight digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Huskies jumped ahead early in the first set before the Black Knights could fight themselves back into it. The first set featured 10 tie scores, but just four lead changes.
Fairfield kicked things off with a solo block to cut Army's deficit to four points (21-17). Morriss tallied back-to-back kills from Bethune to bring the score to 23-20, still in favor of UConn. Then, a solo block by Wesley allowed Army to trail by just one. An error by UConn then tied things up at 23-all.
After UConn took a 24-23 advantage, the Cadets re-tied the score after a kill by Wesley off the slide. Fairfield and Morriss notched two more kills apiece to put Army up 27-26, but the Huskies captured the set 30-28 as the final score.
In set two, the Black Knights jumped ahead 11-6 and padded their lead to 16-9 with back-to-back blocks from Wesley and help from Bethune.
The Huskies fought back to trail by just five points, but Clay picked the momentum back up for the Cadets with a shot down the line. Morriss had a tip to give Army a 23-20 lead before she teamed up with Wesley for a block to set the Black Knights up for set point. Morriss closed-out the set with a kill for Army (25-21).
During the third set, UConn went ahead 7-0 to cause an Army timeout.
The Black Knights stayed in the set and fought back to a 21-17 score with the Huskies still leading. A ball to the back corner by Clay clipped the lead to four points. The Huskies closed-out the set with a 4-0 run to win 25-21.
UConn jumped ahead 12-9 in the fourth set to force Army to call timeout. The Huskies continued their hot streak in the fourth set and led 21-15.
The Black Knights chipped away at their lead with a 4-0 run to cut UConn's lead to 21-19 with kills from Morriss and Fairfield. Fairfield and Allie Strong added a block to keep Army in the match. UConn pulled away however to win the set 25-23 and clinch the match 3-1.

COACHES CORNER

"This was a tough loss for us today," said head coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "UConn is a really good team and played well today. We struggled on our serve and pass game and the outsides were a bit off in the match. A lot has happened this week in school and off the court so we were a bit tired. We will get a good night's sleep and get back into our groove tomorrow. Our team is tough and we lost to a really good team tonight."

UP NEXT

The Black Knights will continue playing in the West Point Invitational tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 17, when they host Delaware State (12 p.m.) and Albany (5 p.m.).