Sept. 10, 2005

Box Score

Villanova, Pa.-Alona Cherkez (Raanana, Israel) recorded a match-best 14 kills to earn MVP honors as Villanova (10-0) swept Lehigh (3-7) 3-0 to win the tournament title at the Villanova Volleyball Classic.

The game scores were 30-13, 30-14, 30-21.

With the win, the Wildcats remain a perfect 10-0 on the year.

Villanova moved out to a 4-0 lead in game one, on the strength of two service aces by senior outside hitter Celine Nguyen (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.). The 'Cats lengthened that lead to 10-2 on a Lehigh attack error. In that 6-2 run, junior setter Jenna Link (Wheaton, Ill.) held serve for six straight points before a 'Nova net violation gave Lehigh a side out.

A spate of Mountain Hawk miscues intermixed with Wildcat kills pushed 'Nova's lead to 18-5 and the 'Cats never looked back from there. A kill from Nguyen ended the set.

In game two, the two teams traded points until a Cherkez kill gave Villanova a 6-3 lead. A service ace from Kathleen Lafferty got Lehigh to within one, at 6-5 before Villanova took over again and stretched its lead back to 12-5 after a kill from junior middle blocker Adrian Semrau (Grafton, Ohio). That kill came in the middle of an 11-2 run by the 'Cats. A block assist by Lafferty and Julia Atkins got the Mountain Hawks to 22-11 but 'Nova cruised on to take the set.

A flurry of early Villanova errors kept set three tight at the start. The Wildcats managed to stay ahead of the Mountain Hawks, but a kill by Courtney Cherry got LU to within three, 6-9. Miscommunication cut Lehigh's comeback bid short as Villanova built up a 12-7 lead on several errors by the Mountain Hawks. A VU rotation error let Lehigh get back to within three, 13-10, and a service ace by Atkins again cut 'Nova's lead to three, at 18-15 but 'Nova righted the ship and sailed to a comfortable 30-21 win.

The 'Cats hit .337 for the match while limiting the Mountain Hawks to -.021. VU held a narrow edge on digs (41-36) and blocks (5.0-4.0) as well.

Cherkez led all players with 14 kills and hit .400 as well as tallying three blocks. Semrau was the other Wildcat in double figures, with ten kills.

Shannon Spafford led the Mountain Hawks with five kills.

Joining Cherkez on the All-Tournament team were teammates Semrau and Kacy Sellers (Battle Creek, Mich.) as well as Spafford and Michelle Schwendenmann of Lehigh and Stefanie Lombardo of Rider.