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AU Volleyball Finishes Regular Season With 3-0 Win Over Navy
Eagles now 30-0 in two years of Patriot League action

November 15, 2002 | Stats

Karla Kucerkova had a game-high 15 kills.

WASHINGTON — Stealing 11 straight points from the Naval Academy in Game 3 on Friday night, the American University volleyball team came away with a 3-0 victory to finish the regular season with a perfect 14-0 showing in the Patriot League and 24-6 overall record. Scores of the games were 30-20, 30-26 and 30-18.

The Eagles, who have never lost a Patriot League match in their two years as members of the league, are the top seed for the second time in two years heading into next weekend's Patriot League Championships to be played at AU's Bender Arena. The Midshipmen now must wait to see if Army loses to Holy Cross to see if they will also earn a bid into the tournament. Lehigh has already secured a spot and Bucknell is still in the running.

Navy struggled to get an offense going against an overpowering AU attack that featured a .455 hitting percentage compared to the Midshipmen's .088.

American junior Karla Kucerkova had a game-high 15 kills and six digs while hitting .542. Senior Judit Szekelyhidi was impressive with 11 kills on a .625 hitting percentage. Also making an important contribution was sophomore Courtney Mulford, who dished out 30 assists and was six-for-six on attacks.

Following an 11-point run, the Midshipmen fought back before American's Natacha Cornaz, who had three service aces, closed out play with a solo block.

The Patriot League Championships will be held on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23. The first day will feature a pair of semifinal matchups to be played at 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday's championship match will be at 4 p.m. to be televised on ComCast SportsNet. Commentating will be ESPN and former Olympic gold medalist Chris Marlowe and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan.