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AU Volleyball Loses 3-1 to UT-Arlington
Eagles get first taste of nation's best at Louisville Classic as Kucerkova is named to All-Tournament Team

August 31, 2002 | Stats

Sophomore Sabrina Vasconcelos was a spark for the Eagles.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The American University volleyball team recorded its first game win of the 2002 season but lost its third and final match at the University of Louisville Labor Day Classic to the University of Texas-Arlington 3-1 by scores of 20-30, 30-26, 17-30, 20-30 Saturday evening at the Cardinal Arena.

The Eagles, who play their home-opener Sept 3 against Howard, drop to 0-3 for the first time since the 1996 season as they faced three teams that competed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament including Final Four participant and No. 6-ranked Arizona.

AU junior All-America candidate Karla Kucerkova (Olomouc, Czech Republic/Brno) was named to the Louisville Labor Day All-Tournament Team. She finished the tournament with 48 kills including 21 in the final match. The outside hitter also chipped in with 20 digs but totaled 21 errors in the final two matches.

Neither UT-Arlington nor AU let the other out of its stronghold until the Mavericks muscled their way to 16-10 advantage that expanded to 25-17 and took the game out of reach of the Eagles.

Trailing by as many as five points early on, American thundered back from a five-point deficit with a 17-8 rally and the match-tying win in Game 2. It was a different story in Game 3 as the Eagles trailed by as many as 15 and never found their rhythm.

Despite the influx of sophomore Sabrina Vasconcelos (Fortazela, Brazil/Colegio Christus), who racked up a team-high 34 assists complete with 11 digs and three kills, the Mavericks maintained a composure in Game 4 to hold on for the win.

It was a welcome coming out party for freshman middle blocker Cutrina Biddulph (Reseda, Calif./Granada Falls). The 6-4 middle blocker poured on 16 kills and four digs playing up front. Senior middle blocker Judit Szekelyhidi (Ujszentivan, Hungary/Szegedian) improved throughout the tournament, finishing with 27 kills including 15 in Game 3 and 25 digs.

Also putting in consistent efforts for the Eaglers were sophomore Courtney Mulford (San Diego, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and junior Natalie Hand (Keizer, Ore./McNary). Mulford recorded dished out 75 assists to go with 61 assists while Hand was resilient at the new libero position with 36 digs.

Match Summary
Kills: UTA 62; American 55
Attack Percentage: UTA .364; American .117
Blocks: UTA 32; American 9
Assists: UTA 58; American 52