Army Volleyball Defeats Holy Cross in a Sweep

WORCESTER, MASS. – The Army West Point volleyball team (8-5, 5-0 PL) defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders (3-11, 0-5 PL) 3-0 Friday night. With tonight’s win, Army extends its winning streak to six games and is undefeated in conference play.

Army’s Savannah Bray led the way for the Black Knights with 13 kills and had four kills. Sophomore Mackenzie Lynch also had 12 kills and three digs.

Holy Cross struck first with a kill by Gracie Reisman making it a 1-0 lead. The Crusaders cruised to a 3-1 lead when the Black Knights got within one point with a kill by Allanah Cutler. Both teams battled for the lead. Army went on a 4-0 run, taking a 6-4 run. Holy Cross responded, retaking the lead on a 4-0 run, taking an 8-6 lead.

The Black Knights battled to retake the lead, going on a 5-0 run with attack errors by Holy Cross’ Rachel Johnson, Lauren Halverson, and Rain Millership, as well as a kill by Alyssa Lukasik and a service ace by Paige Fixemer, making it an 11-8 match. The Crusaders responded, tying the match up 11-11 with kills by Millership, Halverson, and Rachel Johnson.

In the second half of the first set, Holy Cross led the Black Knights 22-19. Army began its comeback with a monster kill by Cutler, making it a 22-20 match. The Black Knights went on a 3-0 run, tying up the match at 22-22 with a pair of kills by Cutler and a ball-handling error by Holy Cross’ Halle Carter.

After going on a 3-0 run, Army went on to win the first set with a final score of 25-23.

In the second set, the Crusaders took an early 2-0 lead. The Black Knights responded, going on a 3-0 run with a kill by Lynch and attack errors by Johnson and Sanaea Simmons, making it a 3-2 match.

Scoring between both teams went back and forth when Army went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-5 lead. Holy Cross got within two points of the Black Knights with a kill by Lauren Halverson and an attack error by Lukasik, making it a 12-10 match.

Both teams were battling for the lead when Army took a 22-16 lead after going on a 4-0 run. With kills by Diana Ethridge and Cutler, a service ace by Ethridge, and an attack error by Halverson. The Black Knights secured the second set with a final score of 25-18.

Assisted by Mackenzie Lynch, Cutler closed things out with the set-clinching kill.

Both teams fought for the lead in the third set with Holy Cross taking a 3-1 lead. Army responded, going on a 4-0 run with a kill by Paige Fixemer, a service ace by senior Mackenzie Karnig, and attack errors by Reisman and Rachel Johnson, taking a 5-3 lead.

The Crusaders tied things up 5-5 with a kill by Emma Halstead and an attack error by Fixemer.

Holy Cross went on to take a one-point lead when the Black Knights responded. Army went on a 3-0 run to retake the lead, making it a 9-7 match. With both teams battling for the lead, the Black Knights went on to continue to command the court and held a 14-12 lead over the Crusaders.

Army held a three-point lead over Holy Cross after a huge kill by senior Savannah Bray, making it an 18-15 match. Holy Cross fought back, getting within one point of the Black Knights with a kill by Reisman and Johnson, making it an 18-17 match.

Army secured the set point with a kill by Fixemer. The Black Knights secured the win with senior Riley Parchment assisting Bray with the match-securing kill, defeating the Crusaders with a final score of 25-21.