HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/3/07)—The Colgate University volleyball team had four players with double-digit kills and two with double-doubles, but it wasn’t quite enough as American University escaped with a narrow 3-2 victory on Cotterell Court on Senior Day. The 31-33, 30-21, 30-25, 26-30, 15-10 victory gives the Eagles sole possession of first place heading into the final week of Patriot League regular season play.

 

Colgate drops to 15-11 overall and 10-2 in league action, while American moves to 21-7 and 11-1 in conference play. This marks the only time since the Eagles joined the league that Colgate has taken a game from American. Colgate defeated the Eagles in 1996, prior to them joining the conference.

 

Junior Katrina Zawojski (Palo Alto, Calif.) led the attack with 15 kills, while senior Erin Kanetzke (Cincinnati, Ohio) was right behind her with 13 kills and a team-high .400 hitting percentage. Zawojski also led the blocking corps with five block assists. Junior Merryl Pohl (Seattle, Wash.) added 12 kills, while freshman Casey Ritt (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had 11 kills. Sophomore Meghan Fanta (Hillsboro, Wis.) registered a match-high 54 assists. She also picked up 12 digs for the double-double.

 

Junior Jackie Adlam (Mill Valley, Calif.) led the back row defense with a match-best 22 digs. Freshman Sam Trauth (Naperville, Ill.) made 14 digs and added five kills in the thrilling match. Ritt and Kanetzke had three block assists apiece. As a team, Colgate hit .209 and finished with 59 kills and 67 digs.

 

American’s Rubena Sukaj led the Eagles with 30 kills and Ivana Cebakova had 17 kills and 14 digs. Claire Recht added 10 kills and picked up seven total blocks to lead the American defensive effort. Christina Nash and Tara Stradling shared setting duties, finishing with 45 and 20 assists respectively. Cynammon Burns picked up 11 digs and Stradling had 10 for the double-double. As a team, the Eagles hit .320, registering 80 kills and 59 digs.

 

The first game featured seven ties and three lead changes and was arguably the most thrilling of the match. After falling behind 20-11, the Raiders caught the hot hand, going on a 16-6 run to take a 27-26 lead. With a raucous crowd behind them, Colgate never let the Eagles take more than a one point lead as the game was tied five more times and the lead changed hands twice. Down 30-29, Zawojski fired in a kill to tie the score at 30 apiece. The teams traded the next two points to make it 31-31. Ritt made it 32-31 with a thundering kill and Zawojski and Ritt blocked a Cebakova attack to capture the game.

 

Colgate jumped out to an 8-4 lead to start the second, but American was able to settle down and chip away at the Raider lead. Slowly, the Eagles pulled within one point and took the lead for good at 18-17 off a kill from Sukaj. Colgate tied the game two more times, but American pulled away with a 9-0 run behind the serving of Sukaj for the 30-21 victory.

 

American cruised through the third game, hitting .268 and holding Colgate to its lowest percentage of the match at .100. American used a 14-6 run in the early going to go in front 14-7 and never looked back. The Raiders pulled within four late in the contest but it was too little too late.

 

The fourth game proved to be almost an exact opposite as Colgate built a 15-9 lead with a 9-6 early run. Much like the Raiders rebounded in the first game, American started to chip away at the Colgate lead. The Eagles cut the lead to one at 21-20, but the Raiders roared back ahead 27-23 to send the game into a decisive fifth game. Colgate hit a match-best .317 in the game, while American hit .310.

 

American gained control early one, opening up a 7-4 lead. Colgate made it a two-point game at 8-6, but the Eagles continued to get the kills to earn the victory. American hit .556 in the final contest and held Colgate to a .118 hitting percentage.

 

The Raiders close out their Patriot League season on Nov. 9-10, visiting Holy Cross and Army respectively.