Final Statistics

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Army volleyball team suffered its second loss in a row, dropping a 3-1 (22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 21-25) decision to American in Patriot League volleyball action on Saturday afternoon at the Eagles' Bender Arena.

The Black Knights (22-5, 10-2 PL) and Colgate (10-2 PL), who have clinched berths to the league tournament, are tied for first place in the standings with Army owning the tiebreaker following its sweep of the Raiders. The top seed, which will be the tournament host, will not be determined until next weekend.

Sophomore OH Fabiola Castro amassed a season-high 20 kills to lead all players, while freshman OH Ariana Mankus managed 11 kill and tied a team-high nine digs on the afternoon. Castro and Mankus accounted for 31 of Army's 51 kills, as the Black Knights hit for a .168 percentage overall. American totaled 53 kills and hit .261 on the afternoon.

The teams battled through three ties in the opening set before American built a 4-0 run to seemingly steal the momentum. Trailing 20-15, Army scored three unanswered points, two of which came from a kill and service ace for Castro. The surge trimmed the deficit to two (20-18), but American scored five of the final nine points to seal the victory, 25-22.

Army played from behind throughout the first half of the second set, but the Black Knights broke through with a 10-4 run to pull within two (23-21) at an American timeout. Freshman OH Ali Giraud served for five points and Mankus added two Rowell kills during the pivotal stretch that got Army back in the set. A Magdalena Tekiel kill put the serve back in American's hands and the closed out the set with two of the final three points.

American built a quick 7-2 lead coming out of the intermission. Again, Giraud stepped to the line with consistent serving and jumpstarted a 6-1 run that leveled the score at 8-all. The Black Knights' offense then began to click and reeled off 10 of the next 16 points to take an 18-14 lead on a Mankus service ace.  The Black Knights went on to hold off a mini-American rally to make it a 2-1 match with a 25-21 win.

The teams played neck-and-neck to start the fourth set, tying themselves at 6-all. With Castro at the service line, Army scored the next four points unanswered to take an 11-6 lead and force American to burn its first timeout of the set. American continued to cut into the Black Knights' lead and eventually overtook the set by a 23-21 score. The Eagles came out of a timeout and scored the final two points (25-21) unanswered to take the match.

Army returns to West Point to close out the regular season with matches opposite Lafayette and Lehigh next Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.), respectively, at Gillis Field House. Live statistics will be available for both matches, while ITT Knight Vision will broadcast Saturday's match live (subscription fees apply). Visit www.goARMYsports.com for details.

Match Notes: Army edged American during the first round of Patriot League play, 3-2, at West Point ... Army fell behind by a 2-0 score for the second match in a row ... Ali Giraud played for just the second time this season and finished the afternoon with eight digs and a team-best three service aces.