Volleyball Falls to Albany in Five

Saturday, September 17

West Point, NY

5 PM

Army West Point

8-6

Albany

6-6

ALBANY

Army

Volleyball Falls to Albany in Five

September 17, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point volleyball team fell, 3-2, to Albany Saturday night to close-out the West Point Invitational. Sydney Morriss was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Black Knights with a 3.0 kills per set average. She hit .364 over three matches and added five blocks.

"This was a tough match for us," said head coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "We let a great opponent in Albany come back into the fourth set due to our errors and they were able to gain momentum after that. I have to give Albany credit. They are a really, really good team. There is a reason why they went undefeated this weekend against UConn, St. John's and us. We are growing and learning and that is what is important. We have put our team in front of some tough opponents this season and they have developed into tough players. Now it is time to focus on Patriot League play with our opener at Holy Cross on Tuesday."

ARMY MATCH NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS

Sydney Morriss led Army from all around the court. She notched a career-high 17 kills in the match, while hitting at a .405 clip.
Allie Strong recorded her third double-double of the season after totaling 10 kills and a personal-best 21 digs.
Haven Bethune contributed the first double-double of her career with career-highs in assists (42) and digs (18).
Nikki Lum also had a double-double as she had 15 assists and a personal-best 21 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Black Knights took an 11-7 lead in the first set with points from Morriss and Fairfield. The Great Danes overtook the lead at 16-15, but a block by Wesley and Strong tied things up.
Olivia Fairfield and Bethune joined together for a block to re-tie the score at 18-all before a kill from Amber Clay gave the Cadets the lead.
The Great Danes proceeded to capture seven of the next 10 points to win the set 25-22. Set one featured 10 tie scores and three lead changes.
In the second set, the Cadets came out to a 5-1 advantage with Bockrath tallying a kill and Wesley and Strong combining for another block together.
Albany got itself back in the set and tied things up at 6-all, but Army charged ahead (11-7) by taking advantage of two Great Danes error and notching an ace from Strong and a solo block from Fairfield.
Sydney Morriss posted back-to-back kills, the first off a free ball at the net then off an assist from Megan Bryn to increase the Cadets' lead to 14-9. With the set tied 19-all, Clay stepped up with a tip to give Army the lead. Fairfield and Bockrath followed with kills of their own from Lum to push the Black Knights ahead 22-19.
Fairfield connected with Lum and Bethune on the following two plays to set Army up for set point. Then a well-placed attack from Clay gave the Black Knights the set (25-20).
Army and Albany were tied 17-all in the third, but kills from Wesley, Bockrath and Clay put the Black Knights on a 3-0 run to give them a three-point edge. The Great Danes then went on a 3-0 run of their own, but Clay snapped it with a cross-court kill before she put one down the line to bring the score to 22-20.
Fairfield posted two of Army's last three points to close-out the set 25-22 in favor of the Cadets. It also gave them a 2-1 advantage in the match.
During set three, the Black Knights went on a 4-1 run to jump ahead 15-10. Fairfield continued to produce for Army with two kills, while Morriss tallied one along with an error by the Great Danes.
Army was leading 20-17 due to another point by Fairfield, but Albany scored five-straight to take a 22-20 lead. The Black Knights fought back to tie things up off a kill from Bockrath and a blocking error by the opposition. The Grate Danes capped off the set with a 3-0 run to force it to five.
The Black Knights trailed by five when Albany went on a three point run to go ahead 13-8 in the tiebreaker set. Roles were reversed when Bethune notched a kill from Wesley, but the Great Danes captured the match and tournament title with the 15-9 final.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Match 1 // Albany 3, UConn 1
Match 2 // Albany 3, St. John's 1
Match 3 // UConn 3, Army 1
Match 4 // St. John's 3, Delaware State 0
Match 5 // Army 3, Delaware State 0
Match 6 // UConn 3, St. John's 2
Match 7 // Albany 3, Army 2

TOURNAMENT MVP

Laini Leindecker, Albany

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Laini Leindecker, Albany
Nicole Otero, Albany
Kayla Williams, UConn
Elizabeth Kline, UConn
Sydney Morriss, Army
Erica Di Maulo, St. John's
Alliyah McBean, Delaware State

UP NEXT

The Black Knights will open Patriot League play this week when they travel to Holy Cross on Tuesday. The match is slated for 7 p.m. from Worcester, Mass.