Oct. 7, 2008
Center Valley, Pa.- American and Army are atop the Patriot League standings with perfect 4-0 Patriot League records. Navy's Alexa Gibbs won her first Patriot League/Baden Player of the Week award this season and Rebecca Heath was named the Patriot League/Baden Rookie of the Week for the fourth consecutive week.
Patriot League Volleyball Release 10.7.08 
Baden Player of the Week (Sept. 29-Oct.5)
Alexa Gibbs, Navy
Sr., MB, Springfield, Ill.
Gibbs led Navy in kills in each of the three matches against Hampton, Lehigh and Lafayette. Gibbs also led in hitting percentage twice, in service aces twice and in blocks once. In the Patriot League matches, Gibbs led in kills and finished second on the team in hitting percentage, aces and blocks. Her Patriot League averages for the week were higher in all but hitting percentage when compared to the entire week. Gibbs' 17 kills against Hampton were two shy of tying her season-best effort and three away from tying her career high. Gibbs has produced 10 or more kills in 14 of 17 matches this season and is five kills shy of reaching 700 for her career.
Baden Rookie of the Week (Sept. 29-Oct.5)
Rebecca Heath, American
Fr., OH, Naperville, Ill.
Heath helped AU to a 2-0 record this weekend with two 3-0 wins over Lafayette and Lehigh, earning her Baden Rookie of the Week honors for the fourth week in a row. On Friday against Lafayette, Heath recorded a match-high .625 hitting percentage with six kills on eight attempts and just one error. The Eagles recorded a combined hitting percentage of .515 in the match, marking the team's highest single-match hitting percentage in four years. Heath also added four digs in the win. On Saturday, Heath tallied eight kills, a .294 hitting percentage and four digs against Lehigh. American has won 12-consecutive matches against Patriot League opponents dating back to last season.
Honorable Mention
Briana Stremick, Army
Sr., RS, Langdon, N.D.
Registered her 100th career ace and led Army with 15 kills and seven blocks vs. Colgate.
Christina Nash, American
Sr., S, Princeton, Fla.
Hit .700 for the week, totaled 70 assists and averaged 11.67 aps.
Holly Berger, Navy
Fr., L, Claremont, Calif.
Average 3.38 dps... Led Navy in digs in each of the three matches.
Patriot League Notebook
Patriot League Weekend Recap
After two weeks of Patriot League play, both Army and American boast perfect League records. Army is 4-0 after defeating Colgate and Bucknell last weekend, while American is also 4-0 after beating both Lehigh and Lafayette. Navy improved to 2-2 after defeating Lafayette and Lehigh, while Bucknell and Colgate are also 2-2 after both teams beat Holy Cross and lost to Army. The Leopards fell to 1-3 after losses to Army and American, and archrival Lehigh has the same 1-3 record after losing to Navy and American. Holy Cross is still looking for its first Patriot League win after going 0-4 the first two weekends.
Record Week For Navy
Navy's win over Lehigh was the 200th for Head Coach Mike Schwob as the head coach of the women's volleyball team. Jessie Sims, Navy's record holder with 1,306 career digs, moved into sixth place on the program's career kills chart with 1,115. Sims is one dig away from the Patriot League top-10.
Heavy Hitters
American recorded a .515 hitting percentage on Friday in a 3-0 win over Lafayette, marking the team's highest single-match hitting percentage in four years. The Eagles extended their winning streak to five matches this weekend, with all five wins coming in straight sets, 3-0. Of American's 10 wins this season, nine have come by a score of 3-0.
Army Strong
Senior middle Rachael Breinling played in her 300th career set against Colgate on Saturday.
Goldberg Hits Patriot League Century Mark
American Head Coach Barry Goldberg won his 100th Patriot League match this weekend. Goldberg is 484-184 overall and 100-2 in the Patriot League in 20 years as the Eagles' head coach.
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 had a 2-0 record this weekend, with 3-0 wins over Lafayette and Lehigh. The Eagles have won 12 consecutive matches against Patriot League opponents dating back to last season, including two wins in the Patriot League Tournament. The Eagles have won eight straight Patriot League matches by a score of 3-0.
Army The Black Knights remained tied with American atop the Patriot League standings with a 4-0 mark, following wins over Bucknell and Colgate over the weekend. Army's 3-0 win over the Bison marked its 11th sweep of the year. Army heads to New Jersey next to face NJIT on Wednesday night.
Bucknell The Bison went 1-1 this weekend, defeating Holy Cross 3-0 and losing 3-0 to Army. Sophomore Kaitlin Segal has started all 18 matches for the Bison, and leads Bucknell in kills. Bucknell hosts Colgate in a Patriot League match on Friday.
Colgate Colgate's Katrina Zawojski had her best combined weekend performance on the season with only 10 errors in seven sets. Zawojski posted 19 kills with a .333 hitting percentage in the Raiders' loss to Army. Colgate plays Bucknell Friday night in Lewisburg.
Holy Cross The Crusaders are 0-4 in Patriot League play and 1-15 overall on the season. Junior co-captain Samantha Surface leads the team this year with 2.70 kills per game. Holy Cross will rest this week before looking for their first Patriot League win of the season against Army on October 14.
Lafayette Lafayette went 0-2 this weekend, losing 3-0 to American and 3-1 to Navy. Sophomore outside hitter Kayly Elmer tied for the team lead with five kills against American, while adding digs. Elmer finished with a match-high 19 kills and 11 digs against Navy.
Lehigh The Mountain Hawks are 1-3 in Patriot League matches this season, after losing 3-1 to Navy and 3-0 to American this weekend. Junior Maxie McCoy had at least seven kills without making an error for the second time in two weeks against the
Eagles.
Navy defeated Hampton, 3-2, Lehigh, 3-1, and Lafayette, 3-1 last week. Senior Marissa Watson needs just 13 assists to reach 2,000 for her career. The Mids will host St. Francis (Pa.) Wednesday night in Annapolis.
