Volleyball Completes Comeback, Takes Down Golden Grizzlies in Five-Set Victory

Saturday, August 31

Buffalo, NY

2:00 PM

Army West Point

2-0,0-0Patriot

Oakland

0-2,0-0Horizon

Oakland

Army West Point

Volleyball Completes Comeback, Takes Down Golden Grizzlies in Five-Set Victory

August 31, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Army West Point Volleyball got back to business for the second day of the Buffalo Invitational with their Saturday afternoon matchup against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. The two teams traded sets back and forth but after a gutsy comeback from the Black Knights in the fourth set, Army's squad kept the momentum for the tiebreaker and emerged with the five-set victory.

Match Recap
The two teams were remarkably evenly matched for the second day of the tournament as both squads ended the day with 65 kills with Oakland taking 170 total attempts and Army taking 172. Both teams logged 25 errors on the day for a .233 hitting percentage for the Black Knights and a .235 hitting percentage for the Golden Grizzlies.

The first set saw a tight start between the two squads as points fell to both sides and the lead changed hands multiple times until the Golden Grizzlies finally grabbed a five-point lead with a pair of error from the Black Knights to go up 17-12.

Kills from Chloe Murakami and Victoria Kasanganay along with an error from Oakland cut the difference down to just two points before the Golden Grizzlies logged another run to take the match to a four-point difference at 21-17.

Outside hitters Murakami and Mackenzie Lynch combined for a trio of kills to come within a point of leveling the gap, but the Golden Grizzlies refused to relinquish control and soon clinched the first set of the match with a quartet of kills to end the first set 25-23.

The Black Knights would not go quietly, however, and Army's squad sound found their stride in the second set, capitalizing on key errors from Oakland to explode to a 17-9 lead.

The Golden Grizzlies sought to gain ground with a trio of kills, but the Black Knights forced the designated visitors to continue making errors until their lead reached eight points once more with just two points standing between the Black Knights and their first set of the day.

Kills from Chloe Murakami and senior right-side hitter put the exclamation point on Army's second set performance, tying the match at 1-1 with their 25-19 second set victory.

The contentious play continued in the third set as the two teams remained tied through the opening of the match up to 12-12 before the Golden Grizzlies broke the stalemate with a five-point run as they took advantage of a trio of hitting and serving errors from the Black Knights.

Both squads continued to notch kills and force errors, but Oakland's squad eked out the go-ahead third-set win at 25-18.

With their backs against the wall, Army's squad put up an impressive fight – matching the Golden Grizzlies step-for-step throughout the fourth frame all the way to a 19-19 tie.

Oakland opened things up with a set of kills to earn the first match-point opportunity of the night at 24-22 but the Black Knights fought their way through five total match-point scenarios for the Golden Grizzlies to finally tie things up and earn a match-point opportunity of their own after two consecutive errors from Oakland.

Wallace once more put the punctuation no Army's performance with a kill on the right side to claim the 30-28 set-four win and send the match to a tie-breaking fifth set.

The Black Knights kept their foot on the accelerator as the fifth-set got under way, surging to a 6-3 lead with the offensive spark set off by a pair of kills from Lynch.

Lynch's third kill of the set the two teams to switch sides with Army up 8-5 at the break before her fourth kill of the tiebreak pushed the Black Knights up 10-6.

The Black Knights completed their comeback win as Murakami put away her second and third kills of the set to clinch Army's second win of the tournament with the 15-11 fifth set victory.

Black Knight Bullet Points

With the win, Head Coach Alma Kovaci Lee moves up to just nine wins away from tying the all-time Army Volleyball coaching wins record and 10 wins away from breaking the current record of 326 wins, held by former coach Bob Gambardella.
The two teams were impressively evenly matched with 65 kills and 25 attacking errors on each side. Army recorded seven aces to Oakland's eight while the Black Knights tallied 59 assists to the Golden Grizzlies' 61, with a further 71 and 67 digs respectively.
Four Black Knights logged double-digit kills – Chloe Murakami (20), Kingsley Wallace (15), Mackenzie Lynch (13), and Juliette Myrick (11).
Sophomore setter Juliette Myrick logged a triple-double in the match with a career-high 11 kills, 28 assists, and a career-high 12 digs over the five-set match.
Junior outside hitter Chloe Murakami recorded a double-double of her own with a career-high 20 kills and a career-high 19 digs.
Freshman setter Naomi Chinchar continued to shine as she tallied 22 assists in the match along with two service aces and a trio of digs.
The Black Knights put on a defensive show, totaling three solo blocks and nine block assists while four of Army's squad picked up double-digit digs – Chloe Murakami (19), Mackenzie Lynch (17), Ashli Alcala-Romero (16), and Juliette Myrick (12).

Coach's Corner
"As coaches, we are incredibly proud of our team," said Head Coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "Beating Oakland is a quality win. Our team is very focused on having a growth mindset and getting better every time we step on the court."

"Offensively, Chloe [Murakami] was incredible today while Kingsley [Wallace] was also hitting at a high percentage," Kovaci Lee continued. "Defensively, Ashli [Alcala-Rmoero] has a great game as well with 16 digs as our libero."

"Coaching this team is a lot of fun," finished Kovaci Lee. "To see them overcome challenges throughout a match and continue to believe in themselves is awesome to see. We feel that the future is bright for this group."

Up Next
The Black Knights will conclude their weekend in Buffalo on Sunday, September 1st with their third and final match at the Buffalo Invitational. Army will face tournament host Buffalo at 3:00pm in Alumni Arena.

Follow Along
For complete coverage of Army West Point women's volleyball, follow the Black Knights on Twitter and Instagram at @ArmyWP_VB and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.