Oct. 13, 2006
Box Score
WEST POINT, N.Y. (www.lafayette.edu) - For the first time in six matches, the Lafayette volleyball team came out on the losing end of a 3-1 decision on Friday night in Patriot League action at Army. The Leopards dropped two of the four games by a combined five points, falling short of the Black Knights despite a 30-27 victory in the opener.
The opening game seesawed between Lafayette (11-6, 4-2) and Army (15-4, 5-1) until the Leopards broke a 7-7 tie with five straight service points, including a pair of aces, from junior outside hitter Michaela Donohue to pull ahead 12-8. Army scored five of the next six points to knot the score again at 13-all. A pair of service points from both junior middle Maura Kelly and sophomore setter Megan Carter provided more distance, as the Leopards sat on a 19-14 lead midway through. Lafayette led by as many as six, 20-26, on a kill from freshman Cara Mulholland, and the Leopards maintained at least a two-point lead from there. Mulholland accounted for five of her seven kills on the match in game one, helping Lafayette hit for a match-high .367 percentage.
Again game two started with a neck-and-neck battle. A kill from Lafayette senior middle Shannon Fisher gave Lafayette a 13-9 lead before Army came surging back to tie the score, 13-13. The Black Knights owned the ensuing three points and never looked back, tying the match at 1-1 with a 30-22 win.
Not surprisingly, a critical game three lived up to its billing. In a session that featured six ties, most of which came in the final ten points, Lafayette came out hard and opened a 10-4 lead on an Army service error. A trio of kill from senior tri-captain Veronica Canto-Ponce highlighted the stretch. However, the Black Knights managed even the score, 15-15, at the halfway point. Lafayette again pulled ahead by scoring the next three points, but the Black Knights answered once again. The teams exchanged points down the stretch, with Lafayette's last lead coming at 28-27 on a Donohue kill. Army scored the next three points to take a 30-27 game three.
The Black Knights maintained that momentum in game four en route to a 30-21 win.
Canto-Ponce led the Leopards with 16 kills and completed her seventh double-double of the season with 11 digs. Donohue added a team-high 21 digs, while freshman libero Kari Horn was not far behind with 20. Fisher came up with eight kills, while Dohonue, Kelly and Mulholland managed eight.
Lafayette gets right back into Patriot League action, as the team travels to Worcester, Mass. to take on Holy Cross on Saturday at 4 p.m.
