Sept. 15, 2008

American's Rubena Sukaj was named the Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week for the 10th time in her career after breaking the Patriot League career record for both kills and aces last week. The Eagles swept the weekly awards with Rebecca Heath being tabbed the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week.

Patriot League Volleyball Release - 9.15.08

Baden Player of the Week
Rubena Sukaj, American
Sr., OH, Tirana, Albania
With 50 kills and five aces last week, Sukaj became the Patriot League's career leader in both categories. She now has 1,756 career kills and 256 career aces. The senior outside hitter averaged 4.55 kills per set in a 2-1 week for the Eagles with their lone loss coming to No. 22 Long Beach State in five sets. She added five blocks over 11 sets and was named to the Harvard Invitational All-Tournament Team. The Albania native notched double-doubles against both Harvard (14 kills, 10 digs) and Long Beach State (21 kills, 10 digs). This is Sukaj's 10th career Patriot League Player of the Week award.

Baden Rookie of the Week
Rebecca Heath, American
Fr., OH, Naperville, Ill.
Heath averaged 2.18 kills per set in a 2-1 week for American at the Harvard Invitational. The freshman outside hitter put up 12 kills in the win over Harvard and 10 digs against No. 22 Long Beach State. She also hit over .400 against both Harvard and Dartmouth with a .474 attack percentage against the Crimson and .429 versus the Big Green. This is Heath's first career Patriot League Rookie of the Week award.

Honorable Mention

Jamie Clark, Army
Sr., MB, Pueblo, Colo.
Owned a .500 attack percentage in 3-0 week for Army...Totaled seven blocks and averaged 3.60 kps.

Kayly Elmer, Lafayette
So., OH, Wilmette, Ill.
Averaged 4.23 kills per set...Posted a career-high 23 kills against Columbia.

Mo McReynolds, Lehigh
Jr., OH, Wheat Ridge, Colo.
Hit .387 over three matches...Averaged 4.11 kills and 2.55 dig per set.

Patriot League Notebook

Sukaj Tops Two
American Rubena Sukaj became the Patriot League's career kills and career aces leader in the same weekend at the Harvard Invitational. Sukaj posted 50 kills and five aces last week to climb to the top spots. She now has 1,756 career kills and 256 career aces.

The Patriot League now has two student-athletes that rank first on two different career leader boards in the sport of volleyball. Sukaj joins Bucknell's Melissa Wharton (1994-97) who is also first on two lists - hitting percentage (.400) and blocks (631).

This also brings the number of career records broken this year to three as Colgate senior Jackie Adlam became the League's career digs leader over the first weekend of competition. Adlam now has 1,745 digs in her career.

Black Knights On TV
Army will host the West Point Challenge this weekend and will have its match against No. 5 USC televised on ESPNU. The Black Knights will take on the nationally-ranked Trojans at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 19.

Another Ranked Opponent
American will play its third ranked opponent this season on Saturday at the Marquette Invitational as it takes on No. 13 Wisconsin. The Eagles have already played No. 16 Brigham Young and No. 22 Long Beach State.

Sims Adds Another Honor
In addition to being named last week's Patriot League Player of the Week, Navy's Jessie Sims was also tabbed the Co-ECAC Player of the Week last Wednesday.

Quotable
"I want to be the first to congratulate Rubena on setting this record. It is well deserved. Rubena is a hard worker, talented, and has meant a lot to our program both on and off the court. She has been a big part of our success over the last few years and we hope that she has every opportunity to finish off her career with great success." - American Head Coach Barry Goldberg on Sukaj breaking the Patriot League career kills record

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 earned wins over two Ivy League opponents Harvard and Dartmouth and took No. 22 Long Beach State to five sets to go 2-1 at the Harvard Invitational. Senior Rubena Sukaj became the Patriot League's career leader in both kills and aces with 50 and five, respectively, last week. Sukaj posted two double-doubles, averaging 4.55 kills and 2.27 digs per set. Sukaj and senior Christina Nash were both named to the Harvard All-Tournament team. Junior Ivana Cebakova moved to third on American's all-time digs list last week and now has 964 in her career, 23 shy of second place.

Army Army went 3-0 last weekend with wins over Northeastern, Siena and Syracuse. The Black Knights held all three opponents to less than a .147 hitting percentage. Army has lost just three sets total over nine matches this season. Senior Jamie Clark was named the Syracuse Big Orange Tournament Co-MVP and senior Briana Stremick was named to the all-tourney team. Clark hit .500 over three matches and averaged 3.60 kps. Stremick averaged 3.50 kps and had six aces and eight blocks. Senior Liz Lazzari became just the third Army player to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career last week, now with 1,021 kills and 1,088 digs.

Bucknell Sophomore Kaitlin Segal was named to the Bucknell Invitational All-Tournament team after averaging 3.29 kills and 2.43 digs per set. The Bison defeated Fairleigh Dickinson and lost to Saint Francis (Pa.) and Canisius at the tournament hosted in Lewisburg, Pa. Senior Shannon Pitsch needs just 43 assists to become the all-time career leader at Bucknell.

Colgate Senior Katrina Zawojski earned a spot on the Yale Invitational All-Tournament Team. Zawojski averaged 3.75 kps and 2.25 dps and posted a double-double versus Hofstra with 20 kills and 13 digs. The Raiders dropped all three matches at the tournament, falling to Hofstra, Yale and Boston College.

Holy Cross Holy Cross competed in five matches last week, including three at its own Crusader Classic. The Crusaders notched their first win of the season over the weekend, defeating Wagner. Junior Liz Auger posted a career-high 26 kills in the win over the Seahawks and averaged 3.45 kps for the week. Auger was named to the all-tournament team.

Lafayette Lafayette posted a 2-1 record at the Crosstown Invitational over the weekend coming up with victories over Marist and Quinnipiac and dropping a match to Columbia. Sophomore Kayly Elmer reached double-digit kills in all three matches, including a career-high 23 versus Columbia. Elmer averaged 4.23 kills per set and recorded five aces.

Lehigh Lehigh also went 2-1 at the Crosstown Invitational, defeating Quinnipiac and Coppin State and falling to Marist. Junior Mo McReynolds hit .387 for the week and averaged 4.11 kps and 2.55 dps. She notched a .577 hitting percentage in the 3-0 win over Coppin State. Freshman Jessica Kudirka tallied 12 aces over three matches, including six against Coppin State.

Navy Senior Jessie Sims led Navy with 31 kills and tied for the team lead with 23 digs in a 1-2 weekend for the Mids with a win over Hampton and losses to Duquesne and Northern Arizona. Sims upped her career dig total to 1,233, leaving her 38 away from establishing a new Navy record. After recording 12 kills all of last year, junior Barbara Beal posted 12 kills in Navy's match against Northern Arizona.