Sacred Heart University brushes aside Army Black Knights – Volleyball News
The Sacred Heart University Women’s Volleyball team, known as the Pioneers, improved its winning record to 14-5 by making a clean sweep over Army Black Knights on Wednesday, October 5 at Gillis Field House in West Point, New York. The Pioneers played to
their full potential and posted 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 in three consecutive sets. The hosts Black Knights put up a great fight against the visiting Pioneers but were unable to stop their rival’s progress. Army received a third defeat on home soil and fell to
a 12-6 record for the season.
The Pioneers opened the match quickly and converted some early serves into aces. They went straight into action and built a 7-1 lead over the hosts in the first few minutes of the match. In the meanwhile, miscues by the Pioneers allowed Black Knights to
raise the score to a competitive level. The Pioneers, conversely, remained ahead in the game before Army came up with a strong offense and shortened the gap of points to 22-23. Outside hitter, Ariana Mankus, was in the front row to bring Army closer to Pioneers.
Nevertheless, Sacred Heart led the score on back-to-back attacks and eventually ended the opening set 25-22.
In the second set, both teams staged a balanced fight. Sacred Heart had the competitive edge in the game after winning the first set. They took advantage of their better position and put more pressure on the rival side. They led wire-to-wire in the second
set but Army Black Knights also continued with their efforts to catch up. Home team tied the score at 12-all with a decisive 9-2 run. Meanwhile, Sacred Heart came up with another onslaught of swift spikes and cruised past to a 21-14 lead. Army rallied hard
and pushed their score to 21 but Pioneers made no mistake in achieving set points at 25.
The point-to-point battle continued in the third frame of the match. Army threw everything in attack and tried different tactics to take the lead at 15-14 in the third set. However, the Pioneers proved to be a tough nut to crack and did not allow Army to
dominate. Black Knights tied the scores three times but each time Pioneers retook the lead. Finally, the guest team sealed the third set for a win at 25-23 and announced match victory.
The head coach of Army side, Alma Kovaci, stated: "We need to be able to score points and tonight, we didn't do that efficiently. Francine (Vasquez) played well, but we didn't get her enough balls. Sacred Heart is a good, well-coached team and showed it
tonight. We need to learn from this, move forward and refocus on the Patriot League and Holy Cross this weekend.”
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