Volleyball Falls to Kansas

Friday, August 28

Fayetteville, AR

5 PM ET

Army West Point

0-1

#RV Kansas

1-0

Kansas

Army

August 28, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Army West Point volleyball team opened its season at the Arkansas Invitational Friday evening with a 3-0 loss to Kansas. The Jayhawks won the match by set scores of 25-14, 25-14 and 25-20.

"Kansas was a very good team," said head coach Alma Kovaci. "They control the ball really well, play great defense and have a fast offense. It took us a little longer to get used to the physicality and speed of the game, but we played better in the third set. However, we have a long way to go, we have to serve and pass at a much higher level than we are now. Teams at this level don't give away points so today was a great lesson. The stats show improvement in our game and our hitting percentages increased each set. We are looking forward to our competition tomorrow, it is a great tournament."

Carolyn Bockrath led the Black Knights scoring with eight kills and also had two digs. Vanessa Wesley earned a game-high .750 hitting percentage with six kills on eight attack attempts. Vanessa Edwards powered the offense with 26 assists on the night and a team-high 13 digs. Nicole Perri added five kills and seven digs, while Shannel Chong chipped in 12 digs. Bockrath and Jaden Pickell tallied two blocks a piece.

The Jayhawks, who improve to 1-0 on the season, had two players with double digit kills in Tiana Dockery (15) and Kelsie Payne (11).

After falling to Kansas (1-0) in the first and second set with identical scores of 25-14, the Black Knights came out of the break with a new fire and put up a hard fight in the third set to extend the match. Army was able to tie the score 7-7 after Bockrath tallied a kill. After some back and forth action, Bockrath and Perri earned back-to-back kills to bring the score to 12-9 both with assists from Edwards.

With the score at 18-12 in favor of the Jayhawks, the Black Knights struck back earning three-straight points to bring the set within three at 18-15. Bockrath earned tallied two of the kills, while Amber Clay struck once in the three point span.

The Black Knights held Kansas to 23 points after Wesley earned a kill and there was an attacking error by the Jayhawks before clinching the match at 25-20.

Army fell to 0-1 on the season with two more matches this weekend with Arkansas (12 p.m.) and McNeese (5:30 p.m.) on the docket.

Army will face Arkansas for the second time in program history on Saturday. The Black Knights and Razorbacks squared-off once before during the 2011 season when Arkansas won 3-0.

Arkansas was picked to finish fifth in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Preseason Poll, trailing No. 4 Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Arkansas finished 15-16 overall and 9-9 in conference play last fall and return 12 from its roster with five newcomers.

Three Razorbacks earned All-SEC Preseason Team nods including Monica Bolinger, Liz Fortado and Chanell Clark-Bibbs. As a freshman in 2014, Clark-Bibbs led Arkansas with a .337 hitting percentage, ranking eighth in blocks per set (1.01) and 18th in points per set (3.25).

The match against Arkansas will be streamed live on SEC Network +, the network's digital platform. Web broadcasts are available online at SECNetwork.com, ESPN3.com, through the WatchESPN app or by clicking here.

The Black Knights will face the Cowgirls for the first time in program history Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (ET). McNeese State finished the 2014 season with a record of 15-17 overall and 5-11 in the Southland Conference. The Cowgirls return Amber Fryer and Malina Sanchez who led the team in kills with 259 and 232, respectively. Kelly Graham also returns to fuel the offense after averaging 9.25 assists per set during her junior campaign.

For up-to-date information about Army volleyball, please follow @ArmyWP_VB on Twitter and Instagram.