Nov. 19, 2004

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Senior Jackie Leahy led all players with 13 kills, but it would come in the final match of her career as the Bucknell volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to second-seeded Army in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals Friday night at American's Bender Arena.

Third-seeded Bucknell, which was playing in the postseason for the 14th time in the 15-year history of the league, finishes its season at 14-13. Army (18-8) advances to play top-seeded American in Saturday night's championship match.

After dropping both regular-season matches with Army this season, Bucknell jumped ahead quickly in this one, winning the first game 30-25. The Black Knights evened things up with a 30-27 win in game two and led 29-22 in the third set before the Bison made a spirited comeback. Bucknell saved seven game points and tied the game at 29-all, but Army regrouped and won two straight points for a 31-29 win. The Black Knights took game four 30-22.

Eileen Cassidy led Army's balanced offensive attack with 12 kills. Rachel Travis and Caitlin Machon each finished with 11 kills and Danielle Cooper chipped in 10.

"We went into a championship situation and gave it all we had," said head coach Cindy Opalski. "As a coach that's all you can ask for. In terms of effort and enthusiasm I thought we really came to play. We won the first game and thought we had some momentum going."

Army outhit Bucknell .250 to .153 and held an 11-6 edge in blocks. The Bison hit .333 as a team in the first game, but just .111 the rest of the way.

Two other seniors were also strong in their final collegiate contests. Carolyn Dougherty had a team-high 18 digs, while Chelsea Robertson had nine kills and only two errors along with 11 digs. Leahy added 14 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. She finishes her career 1,194 career kills, third-most in school history. Her 390 kills this season rank sixth all-time at Bucknell.

"We had excellent production from our seniors," said Opalski. "It was a great effort from them. It is a sad day thinking that we won't have them back next year."

Jessica Le had 41 assists against Army, placing her fourth on Bucknell's single-season chart with 1,079.

Jennie Smith had 11 kills on .360 hitting and added four blocks for the Bison. Jenna Henderson wrapped up a strong freshman season with eight kills, while Amanda Grossman hit a team-best .375 with seven kills.

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