Sept. 2, 2008

The first round of Patriot League Volleyball Weekly Awards for the 2008 season went to student-athletes from American and Lehigh. The Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week honor was given to American's Rubena Sukaj, while Lehigh's Angelika Kopacz was named the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week.

Patriot League Volleyball Release - 9.2.08

Baden Player of the Week
Rubena Sukaj, American
Sr., OH, Tirana, Albania
Sukaj earned her ninth-career Patriot League Player of the Week award after averaging 4.83 kills per set and 3.08 digs per set, while hitting .325 over three matches. The two-time Patriot League Player of the Year posted two double-doubles with 22 kills and 16 digs against George Washington and 22 kills and 15 digs versus George Mason. As the MVP of the DC Challenge she led the Eagles to the title with a 2-1 record last week. She moved to third on the League's all-time aces chart with eight last week, including six in a 3-0 win over Georgetown. She also had 10 blocks last week.

Baden Rookie of the Week
Angelika Kopacz, Lehigh
Fr., OH, Rutherford, N.J.
Kopacz averaged 3.31 kills per set and 2.39 digs per set during her first four collegiate matches for the Mountain Hawks last weekend. She hit .350 in her first college match against Robert Morris and followed that up with a .364 attack percentage in a 3-0 victory over Loyola (Md.). She notched her first-career double-double with 17 kills and 23 digs against Marist. This honor marks the first Patriot League Rookie of the Week award for Lehigh since 2003.

Honorable Mention

Briana Stremick, Army
Sr., RS, Langdon, N.D.
Hit .442 over two games, including .500 in a win over Manhattan...Averaged 3.83 kills per set.

Katrina Zawojski, Colgate
Sr., RS, Palo Alto, Calif.
Totaled 51 kills over three matches for a 3.92 per set average...Hit .376 and added eight blocks.

Alexa Gibbs, Navy
Sr., MB, Springfield, Ill.
Averaged 3.33 kills per set and hit .452 in a 3-0 weekend for the Mids...Had nine aces and 12 blocks...Named to the Trident Classic All-Tournament Team.

Patriot League Notebook

Academies Off To Perfect Starts
Both Army and Navy posted perfect records during the opening weekend of the 2008 season. Navy went 3-0 to win its own Trident Classic and Army posted a pair of victories at home.

Adlam's All-Time Digs
Colgate senior Jackie Adlam became the Patriot League's all-time digs leader in her second match of the season. With 18 digs in a win over West Virginia on Saturday she passed the old record which was set last year by Lafayette's Michaela Donohue (1,610, 2004-07). With a total of 43 digs over the weekend, Adlam now has 1,640 career digs.

Sukaj Stepping Up
American senior Rubena Sukaj moved to third on the Patriot League's all-time aces list with eight over the weekend, while becoming American's all-time leader in that category. Sukaj now has 246 career aces and needs just 10 more to take over sole possession as the League's all-time leader. Sukaj also ranks second on the League's all-time kills list with 1,661. She needs 58 more to own the top spot.

Quotable
"The entire weekend was a great confidence builder for our team. It wasn't just the wins that were important, but the way we did it by rallying in nearly every set and in every match. We still have a great deal of improvement that we need to make, but this was a good start for us." - Navy Head Coach Mike Schwob after winning the Trident Classic

2008 Patriot League Tournament
The 2008 Patriot League Volleyball Championship will take place Friday-Saturday, Nov. 21-22 at the site of the highest seed as determined by regular-season standings with the top four teams qualifying for the tournament. Two semifinal matches will take place on Friday, Nov. 21 with the No. 1 seed facing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed facing the No. 3 seed. The championship match will be played on Saturday, Nov. 22 with the winner earning the Patriot League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Team Notebooks

American American went 2-1 last weekend to win the DC Challenge with victories over Georgetown and George Mason and a loss to George Washington. Senior Rubena Sukaj was named the MVP of the DC Challenge and become American's all-time aces leader with 246 in her career. Sukaj average 4.83 kills per set and boasted a .325 hitting percentage. Freshman Rebecca Heath posted a double-double in her collegiate debut against George Washington with 13 kills and 10 digs. Senior Christina Nash and sophomore Cassandra Ricketts were both named to the DC Challenge All-Tournament along side Sukaj.

Army With a victory over Manhattan on Saturday, Army won its fourth-straight home opener and followed up with a win over Wagner later in the day to start the year 2-0. Army extended its home win streak to eight matches, dating back to a Sept. 19 heartbreaker to American, which would stand as the team's only home loss of 2007. Senior Briana Stremick hit .500 or better for the eighth time in her career against Manhattan and averaged 3.83 kps for the week. Junior setter Maureen Bannon recorded the team's first double-double (28 assists, 13 digs) of the season against Wagner.

Bucknell Sophomore Kaitlin Segal averaged 3.78 kills per set and 2.56 digs per set over Bucknell's three matches at the Central Connecticut State Invitational. Segal recorded double-digit kills in all three matches and a double-double (10 kills, 11 digs) against Iona. The Bison dropped all three of their matches to open the 2008 season.

Colgate Senior Jackie Adlam became the Patriot League's all-time digs leader with 43 over three matches last week. Colgate opened the season 2-1 at its own tournament with wins over Kent State and West Virginia and a loss to Boston College. Senior Katrina Zawojski was named to the Colgate Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.92 kps and hitting .376.

Holy Cross Holy Cross will kick of the 2008 season this week with a match at Providence on Wednesday. The Crusaders will then play at the Sacred Heart Invitational over the weekend.

Lafayette Sophomore Katrina Racibarskas averaged 2.60 kills and 2.31 digs per set as Lafayette went 0-4 at the La Salle Tournament. Racibarskas notched a double-double against La Salle with a match-high 13 kills and 14 digs and ended the week with seven blocks.

Lehigh Lehigh went 1-3 during the opening weekend of play, recording its win over Loyola (Md.). Freshman Angelika Kopacz averaged 3.31 kills and 2.39 digs per game. Kopacz hit .350 or better against both Robert Morris and Loyola (Md.).

Navy Navy won its own Trident Classic for the first time in four tries and six years. The Mids recorded wins over St. Francis (N.Y.), Bryant and USC Upstate. Navy team captain Marissa Watson was named as the Trident Classic Most Valuable Player. Watson averaged 8.67 assists and 1.33 digs per set on the week. Senior Alexa Gibbs (3.33 kps, 1.00 bps, .452 hit. Pct.) and junior Krista Eschelman (2.17 kps, 1.50 bps, .276 hit. Pct.) also garnered all-tournament honors. Senior Jessie Sims needs 20 kills to become the third 1000-kill, 1000-dig performer in Navy Division I history. She enters the week with 980 career kills and 1,168 career digs. Her latter total ranks second on Navy's career dig chart.