Sept. 8, 2008

Navy's Jessie Sims won her second-career Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week award on Monday after leading the Mids to the Runnin' Bulldog Classic title. Lehigh's Angelika Kopacz was named the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week for the second-straight week.

Patriot League Volleyball Release - 9.8.08

Baden Player of the Week
Jessie Sims, Navy
Sr., OH, Etowah, N.C.
Sims was named the Runnin' Bulldog Classic Most Valuable Player after leading the Mids to the tournament title. Sims averaged 3.55 kps and 3.82 dps, while hitting .369 over three matches. The senior outside hitter tallied two double-doubles with 15 kills and 15 digs in a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb and 19 kills and 16 digs versus Charleston Southern. She surpassed the 1,000-career kills mark this past weekend and now has 1,019 to go along with 1,210 career digs. This is Sims' second-career Patriot League Player of the Week award.

Baden Rookie of the Week
Angelika Kopacz, Lehigh
Fr., OH, Rutherford, N.J.
Kopacz repeated as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. The freshman outside hitter averaged a team-high 4.17 kills per set as the Mountain Hawks went 1-1 on the week. She also hit .327 over two matches including a .444 clip against St. Peter's.

Honorable Mention

Christina Nash, American
Sr., S, Princeton, Fla.
Averaged 8.36 assists and 2.45 digs per set...Posted two double-doubles...Had 12 block assists.

Elizabeth Lazzari, Army
Sr., OH, Seal Beach, Calif.
Hit .311 over three matches...Averaged 3.29 dps and 2.93 kps...Named to Temple All-Tournament Team.

Kaitlin Segal, Bucknell
So., OH, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Named to Loyola Chicago All-Tournament Team...Totaled 51 kills over four matches for a 3.40 per set average...Had eight aces.

Katrina Zawojski, Colgate
Sr., RS, Palo Alto, Calif.
Averaged 3.92 kills per game...Posted a 20-kill, 15-dig double-double in a win over Seton Hall....Named to Duke Invitational All-Tournament Team.

Kayly Elmer, Lafayette
So., OH, Wilmette, Ill.
Posted double-digit kills in three of four matches...Averaged 3.31 kps...Added five aces.

Patriot League Notebook

Four At .500+
Four Patriot League teams own overall records of at least .500 or better. Army and Navy top the standings both with 5-1 (.833) marks. American and Colgate are each at 3-3 after the second week of 2008 competition.

Reunion In Philly
Army Head Coach Alma Kovaci made her way back to her alma mater (Temple, 2002) this past weekend and went up against her college coach, Bob Bertucci, on Friday. The Black Knights defeated the Owls, 3-0, at the Temple Tournament.

Sukaj Getting Closer To Number Ones
American senior Rubena Sukaj moved to second on the Patriot League career aces chart now with 251. She needs five more to take over sole possession of the number one spot, passing Fordham's Jenn Shea (1991-94). Sukaj is also just 13 kills away of becoming the League's all-time leader (1,706). Army's Deann Machlan (1992-95) currently holds the top spot with 1,718 career kills.

All-Time Assists
Another American senior is making moves on the League career charts with Christina Nash entering into the top 10 on the Patriot League all-time assist list this past weekend. Nash has 2,981 career assists.

Bucknell senior Shannon Pitsch is very close to joining Nash on the top 10 list, currently with 2,972 career assists.

Sims Over 1,000/1,000
Navy senior Jessie Sims now has over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. Sims has collected 1,210 digs and 1,019 kills for her career thus far.

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 defeated Siena and lost to Texas A&M and No. 16 Brigham Young over the weekend. Senior Christina Nash posted two double-double with 32 assists and 13 digs against Texas A&M and 30 assists and 11 digs against BYU. Freshman Rebecca Heath came up with double-digit kills in all three matches over the weekend and a total of 19 digs.

Army Army posted a 3-1 week with a win over Marist on Tuesday and victories over Temple and Fairfield and a loss to Bowling Green over the weekend. Senior Elizabeth Lazzari posted her first double-double of the year against Bowling Green with a career-high 21 digs and 13 kills. Lazzari was named to the Temple All-Tournament Team after averaging 2.92 kps, 3.29 dps and hitting .311. Five Black Knights averaged at least 2.40 kills per game last week, while Army held all four of its opponents to under a .250 hitting percentage. Senior Jamie Clark was also named to the All-Tourney Team.

Bucknell Bucknell earned its first two wins of the season at the Loyola Chicago Invitational this past weekend, defeating Tennessee-Martin and Sam Houston State. The Bison dropped matches to host Loyola Chicago and Evansville. Sophomore Kaitlin Segal averaged 3.40 kps and 2.1 dps over four matches and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Senior Shannon Pitsch needs just 100 assists to become the all-time career leader in Bucknell history.

Colgate Senior Katrina Zawojski posted her first double-double of the year with 20 kills and 15 digs in a win over Seton Hall. Zawojski averaged 3.92 kps and was named to the Duke Invitational All-Tournament Team. The Raiders dropped games to Georgia and Duke at the Duke Invitational.

Holy Cross Holy Cross fell to Sacred Heart, Rider and Bryant at the Sacred Heart Invitational over the weekend and dropped its first match of the season to Providence last Wednesday. Senior co-captain Molly Anderson now has 928 career digs which moves her to fourth all-time at Holy Cross.

Lafayette The Leopards went 1-2 at the Lafayette College Tournament with a win over Delaware State and losses to St. Peter's and Fairleigh Dickinson. Lafayette started out the week with a win over Coppin State on Wednesday. Sophomore Kayly Elmer posted double-digit kills in all three matches at the Lafayette College Tournament and averaged 3.31 per set for the week.

Lehigh Freshman Angelika Kopacz averaged 4.17 kills per set and hit .327 in a 1-1 week for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks earned a 3-0 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) but lost to St. Peter's. Both matches took place in Jersey City, N.J. as part of the St. Peter's Tri-Match last Tuesday.

Navy Navy won its second tournament in as many weeks, being crowned winner of the Runnin' Bulldog Classic with wins over Winston-Salem State and Gardner-Webb and a loss to Charleston Southern. Senior Jessie Sims was named the Most Valuable Player of the Runnin' Bulldog Classic. With 39 kills last week, Sims became the seventh player in Navy Division I history to tally 1,000 kills, and joins Rachel Shropa (1996-99) and Jen Williams (1996-99) as the only Mids to record both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. Freshman Holly Berger hauled in 10+ digs in each of Navy's three matches on the week. Sophomore Alexa Gibbs was named to her second all-tournament team in as many weeks.