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American Volleyball Clinches Regular Season Title
Eagles defeat Lehigh to clinch top seed in Patriot League Championship

Game Stats | November 3, 2001

Karla Kucerkova helped solidify American's hold on the Patriot League Regular Season Title with 20 kills against Lehigh.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The American Eagles lived up to their Patriot League preseason favorite hype as they defeated league foe Lehigh, 3-0, on Saturday to clinch the league’s regular season volleyball title and the top seed in the league tournament. Scores of the match were 30-22, 30-23 and 30-20 as American extended its winning streak to 16 matches and earned hosting responsibilites for the Patriot League Volleyball Championship.

Sophomore Karla Kucerkova (Olomovc, Czech Republic/Brno), a two-time league player of the week selection this season, led the Eagle attack with a match-high 20 kills and a .517 hitting percentage while senior teammate Eneida Muzhaqi (Elbasan, Albania/Qemal Stafa) added 15 kills in the win.

Freshman Natacha Cornaz (Lausanne, Switzerland/Gymnase Auguste Piccard) followed up a big night at Lafayette on Friday with a match-high 12 digs and two service aces against the Mountain Hawks. Classmate Sabrina Vasconcelos (Fortaleza, Brazil/Colegio Christus) also came up big with 47 assists and three service aces.

Lehigh falls to 13-9 on the season and 10-3 in the Patriot League and may face the Eagles again in the Patriot League Championship.

American remains perfect in league play this season at 13-0 while carrying an overall record of 21-2. The team returns home to prepare for a non-conference match against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Bender Arena where American has been undefeated in 13 straight matches.

Match Summary
Kills: American 58, Lehigh 32
Attack Percentage: American .365, Lehigh .176
Blocks: American 3, Lehigh 4
Assists: American 53, Lehigh 32