Sept. 29, 2008

American swept the Patriot League volleyball weekly awards after opening up Patriot League play 2-0. Rubena Sukaj earned her 11th-career Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week award and Rebecca Heath was named the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week for the third-straight time.

Patriot League Volleyball Release - 9.29.08

Baden Player of the Week
Rubena Sukaj, American
Sr., OH, Tirana, Albania
Sukaj led American to a 3-0 week, including a 2-0 start to the Patriot League season. The senior outside hitter owned a .500 attack percentage, including hitting .706 against Bucknell with zero errors. She averaged 3.44 kills per set and added six aces and five blocks over three matches. This is Sukaj's 11th career Patriot League Player of the Week award.

Baden Rookie of the Week
Rebecca Heath, American
Fr., OH, Naperville, Ill.
For the third week in a row Heath was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. In a 3-0 week for the Eagles, she averaged 3.22 kills per set and hit .368. The freshman outside hitter came up with five aces, including three in a Patriot League win over Bucknell. She also hit a career-high .562 against the Bison.

Honorable Mention

Jamie Clark, Army
Sr., MB, Pueblo, Colo.
Hit .341 over two Patriot League wins...Recorded five blocks and 17 kills.

Heidi Kamp, Bucknell
So., MB, Springfield, Ore.
Owned a .433 attack percentage in 1-1 week...Averaged 3.00 kills per set.

Alexa Gibbs, Navy
Sr., MB, Springfield, Ill.
Average 4.22 kps...Hit .368 over three matches.

Patriot League Notebook

First Patriot League Weekend
American and Army came out of the first weekend of Patriot League play with 2-0 records, while Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette and Lehigh all posted 1-1 marks. The Eagles and the Black Knights were picked first and second, respectively, in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.

No match this weekend went to more than four sets and that only happened in three of the eight matches. The home team won four times, while four road victories were notched. American was the only team to be perfect at home with the pair of matches this weekend being the first home contests for the Eagles this season.

Road Warriors
Army is the only team in the Patriot League to own a perfect record on the road. The Black Knights are 5-0 in away contests.

Triple Threat
Navy's Alex Gibbs is currently the only Patriot League student-athlete to rank in the top five in hitting percentage, kills and aces. Gibbs is second in the League in hitting percentage (.358), fourth in kills (3.46) and first in aces (0.58).

Career Records
Both Colgate senior Katrina Zawojski and Navy senior Jessie Sims broke career records at their schools this past weekend. Zawojski became the Raiders' all-time kills leader with 1,474, which also ranks sixth on the Patriot League career chart. Sims became Navy's all-time digs leader now with 1,280. Sims needs 27 more digs to break into the Patriot League's top-10 list.

Quotable
"This year is all about proving something. The newness we dealt with last year has worn off, and we're just on a mission now." - Second-year Lehigh Head Coach Jenny Maurer after notching her first League win of the season against Holy Cross

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 won all three of its matches last week by a 3-0 score with Patriot League wins over Colgate and Bucknell and a non-conference win over Howard. Senior Rubena Sukaj hit .500 over three matches and averaged 3.44 kills per set. Sukaj added six aces and five blocks. Freshman Rebecca Heath averaged 3.22 kps and hit .368. The Eagles held Colgate to a .080 hitting percentage.

Army Army started off League play with two wins, defeating Lafayette and Lehigh. The 3-0 win over Lafayette was the 10th straight-set victory for the Black Knights this year and their 21st-straight win over the Leopards. Senior Jamie Clark hit .341 on the week and averaged 2.43 kills per set. Senior Rachael Breinling put up a season-high 18 kills at Lehigh, followed closely by classmate Briana Stremick with 16.

Bucknell Bucknell split matches over the weekend to open Patriot League play with a 3-0 win over Navy and a 3-0 loss to American. Sophomore Heidi Kamp owned a .433 attack percentage over two matches and averaged 3.00 kps. Senior setter Shannon Pitsch moved to ninth on the League's all-time assist list with 3,152 in her career.

Colgate Senior Katrina Zawojski became Colgate's all-time kills leader against American on Friday. Zawojski is sixth on the League's career kills chart at 1,474. Colgate fell to American and defeated Navy to start off League play. Sophomore Logan Keala came up with 2.66 digs per game, including 12 versus Navy. Freshman Kaylee Dougherty posted a .433 hitting percentage and averaged 2.50 kills per set.

Holy Cross Senior Molly Anderson surpassed the 1,000-career digs mark over the weekend in Patriot League matches versus Lehigh and Lafayette. Anderson is only the fourth Crusader to reach this milestone and now has 1,005 in her career. Junior Samantha Surface averaged 2.75 kps and notched a double-double against Lehigh with 10 kills and 11 digs.

Lafayette Lafayette went 1-1 last week, defeating Holy Cross and falling to Army. In the 3-1 win over the Crusaders, sophomore Kayly Elmer led the team with 12 digs, while classmate Katrina Racibarskas had 11. Junior Kari Horn posted a team-high 18 digs.

Lehigh Lehigh began the Patriot League portion of the season with a 3-1 win over Holy Cross on Friday and lost to Army on Saturday. Junior Maxie McCoy hit .488 for the weekend and contributed 2.50 kills per set. Against Holy Cross, freshman Angelika Kopacz notched a match-high 19 kills, while rookie Emma Melendez had a match-high 19 digs.

Navy Senior Jessie Sims set the Navy record for the most digs in a career during Navy's match against Bucknell. Sims has now totaled 1,280 digs to break the record of 1,270 set by Rachel Shropa (1996-99). She is one of three players in school history to tally both 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career. Sims ranks sixth at Navy with 1,090 career kills. The Mids dropped both of their Patriot League matches over the weekend, falling to Bucknell and Colgate, but earned a mid-week win over Coppin State. Senior Alexa Gibbs led Navy in kills (4.22 kps) in each of the three matches contested on the week and tallied the top hitting percentage on the team against both Bucknell and Colgate. Her 14 kills against Bucknell tied her career high tally for a three-set match.