Sept. 22, 2008

Army's Maureen Bannon earned her first-ever Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week award after Army posted a 3-1 record last week. American's Rebecca Heath was named the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week for the second-straight time. Both Army and American faced ranked opponents last week as the Black Knights took on No. 5 USC and the Eagles faced No. 13 Wisconsin.

Patriot League Volleyball Release - 9.22.08

Baden Player of the Week
Maureen Bannon, Army
Jr., S, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Bannon averaged 10.85 assists and 2.15 digs per set in a 3-1 week for the Black Knights. In a mid-week match against Manhattan, Bannon notched a season-high 53 assists in a 3-1 victory. The junior setter was named to the West Point Challenge All-Tournament Team. During tourney play, she notched 68 assists in Army's two wins over Hartford and Dartmouth and added 20 more in a loss to No. 5 USC. The Golden State native also totaled seven block assists for the week. This is Bannon's first-career Patriot League Player of the Week award.

Baden Rookie of the Week
Rebecca Heath, American
Fr., OH, Naperville, Ill.
Heath repeats as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week after averaging 3.22 kills per set and hitting .290 against No. 13 Wisconsin and Marquette. The freshman outside hitter was named to the Marquette Cheese Bowl All-Tournament Team. Against nationally-ranked Wisconsin, she recorded 11 kills and a .308 attack percentage. Versus Marquette she notched her second-career double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs - both marks were career highs.

Honorable Mention

Rubena Sukaj, American
Sr., OH, Tirana, Albania
Averaged 3.80 kps and 2.44 dps...Became American's all-time kills leader now with 1,791.

Shannon Pitsch, Bucknell
Sr., S, Oak Brook, Ill.
Broke the Bucknell career assists record and now has 3,099...Averaged 7.78 aps last week.

Emily Sawanobori, Bucknell
Fr., L, Warren, N.J.
Averaged 5.00 digs per set over three matches...Posted a career-high 21 digs in a 3-0 win over La Salle.

Alexa Gibbs, Navy
Sr., MB, Springfield, Ill.
Totaled seven aces over two victories...Average 4.00 kills per set.

Patriot League Notebook

Starting Off Strong
Army's 11-2 record marks the best start for the Black Knights since the team went 18-0 to open the 1987 season under Head Coach Bob Gambardella. Army finished that year with a 29-12 mark.

Patriot League Play Begins
This weekend will kick off the 18th season of Patriot League competition with four matches on Friday and four on Saturday. Seven-time and reigning Patriot League Champion American was picked to win another title this season in the 2008 Patriot League Preseason Poll. The poll is voted on by the eight head coaches in the League and eight volleyball sports information directors, who can not vote for their own team. The Eagles gained the top spot in the poll with 97 points and 13 first-place votes. Army was the only other team to garner first-place votes with three and came in second in the poll with 87 points. Colgate and Navy came in third and fourth in the poll with 72 and 55 points, respectively. Rounding out this year's preseason poll were in order Bucknell (46 points), Lafayette (41) and Lehigh (35) and Holy Cross (15).

Breaking On To The Charts
Colgate's Katrina Zawojski and Bucknell's Shannon Pitsch each entered into a Patriot League top 10 career statistical chart this past week. Zawojski is now tied for seventh on the Patriot League career kills list with 1,458. Pitsch is 10th in career assists with 3,099.

Perfect In Annapolis
Navy is the only Patriot League team with a perfect record at home as the Mids have gone 5-0 in Annapolis so far this year. American has not yet played a match at home this season.

Quotable
"I thought the girls played great up against one of the top teams in the country. We are only going to grow from this experience. I am proud of them, putting up an 11-2 record in non-conference. I'm looking forward to the start of Patriot League games." - Army Head Coach Alma Kovaci after facing No. 5 USC

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 Senior Rubena Sukaj became American's all-time kills leader over the weekend, totaling 35 against No. 13 Wisconsin and Marquette. The Eagles dropped both matches over the weekend. Sukaj tallied a double-double against Marquette with 19 kills and 15 digs, while freshman Rebecca Heath did the same with 18 kills and 11 digs. Heath was named to the Marquette Cheese Bowl All-Tournament Team. Senior Christina Nash moved to seventh on the Patriot League's career assists list with 94 last week, including a season-high 55 against Marquette. Junior Ivana Cebakova moved to second on American's all-time digs list now with 996 in her career.

Army Army enjoyed a 3-1 week with its only loss coming to No. 5 USC. The Black Knights defeated Columbia last Tuesday and then won matches against Harford and Dartmouth and falling to USC at the West Point Challenge. Juniors Maureen Bannon and Rachel Dunn were named to the All-Tournament Team. Bannon averaged 10.85 aps and 2.15 dps, while adding seven block assists last week. Bannon moved into sole possession of fifth place on Army's career assist list with 2,485, while senior Jamie Clark moved to third in career blocks with 305.

Bucknell Senior Shannon Pitsch broke the Bucknell career assists mark in the first set against La Salle on Saturday and now has 3,099 which is good enough for 10th on the Patriot League's all-time list. Pitsch was named to the Villanova All-Tournament Team. Bucknell earned a 3-0 win over La Salle and fell to Villanova and Penn at the Villanova Tournament. Freshman Emily Sawanobori led Bucknell with 5.11 digs per set last week. She posted a career-high 21 digs in the win over La Salle.

Colgate Senior Katrina Zawojski is three kills away from breaking the Colgate all-time record of 1,461. Zawojski averaged 3.82 kps last week and totaled 11 blocks. Colgate earned a 3-1 win over Binghamton on Tuesday but fell to Princeton and Syracuse at the Colgate Invitational.

Holy Cross Junior Samantha Surface averaged 3.40 kills per game over three matches last week as the Crusaders lost to Rhode Island, Boston College and Northeastern. Surface has recorded double-digit kills in seven-straight matches. Sophomore Chelsey O'Donnell was named to the all-tournament team at the Beanpot Classic after tallying 18 assists and 11 digs versus Boston College and 20 assists and nine digs against Northeastern.

Lafayette Lafayette posted a 1-1 week with a win over Manhattan and a loss to Seton Hall. Sophomore Kayly Elmer recorded her first double-double of the season with 21 kills and 15 digs in the win over Manhattan and posted a .444 hitting percentage. For the week Elmer averaged 3.25 kills and 2.5 digs per set, while hitting .333.

Lehigh Freshman Chelsea Sheridan was named to the Towson Invitational All-Tournament Team. Lehigh went 0-3 over the weekend, facing North Dakota, Maryland and Towson.

Navy Navy notched a pair of wins last week, defeating Howard and Wagner. Senior Alexa Gibbs went over 600 kills in her career against Wagner and totaled 28 last week for a 4.00 per set average. Gibbs hit .500 against Howard and totaled seven aces over two matches. Freshman Holly Berger knocked down a career-high five aces in the win over Howard and posted a team-high nine digs. Berger followed that up with 16 digs versus Wagner to tie for the Navy lead.