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Eagles Make It Two Straight: Capture Second PL Championship
Kucerkova and Biddulph head up impressive 2002 season

December 13, 2002

Karla Kucerkova

Cutrina Biddulph

WASHINGTON — To repeat success is always a challenge when everybody’s out to get you. But to improve on that success is the mark of a truly forward-thinking program.

The 2002 American University volleyball team’s season ended on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002 with an NCAA Tournament First Round loss to No. 24 South Carolina by a 3-1 margin. All things considered, however, the Eagles, who were 26-8 overall, once again proved their dominance regionally and faced some of the toughest competition in the nation.

For the second time in two years, AU went 14-0 in the Patriot League regular season before registering victories over Army and Lehigh in the Patriot League Championships to cap its 32-0 record in two years of membership with the league. American dropped just five games against league opponents while leading in four team categories including kills, assists, service aces and hitting percentage.

American wasted no time facing top-ranked competition in August when it took on then-No. 6 Arizona, and NCAA Tournament-bound University of Texas-Arlington and the hosting Cardinals. The Eagles dropped all three matches, rallying with a single game won against the Mavericks as junior Karla Kucerkova (Olomouc, Czech Republic/Brno) was named to the all-tournament team.

AU then embarked on its second-longest winning streak of the season with six straight including one over regionally-ranked Duke at the Duke Classic on Sept. 13. In that match, Kucerkova was a force with a double-double - 19 kills and a career-high 21 digs and sophomore Courtney Mulford (San Diego, Calif./La Costa Canyon) set a new career high in assists with 59. The winning streak ended with a 3-0 loss to No. 10 Wisconsin followed by another loss to No. 18 UC-Santa Barbara. Freshman Cutrina Biddulph (Reseda, Calif./Granada Hills) earned a spot on the all-tournament team as she hit over .400 with 11 kills against the Blue Devils.

On Sept. 20 and 22, the Eagles hosted No. 3 Florida, No. 9 Penn State and Yale at the first American Volleyball Classic. Soundly defeating the Ivy League representative in the first round, AU lost to the Gators in the championship, 3-0. Friday night’s match and Sunday’s championship were both broadcasted live on Comcast SportsNet and commentated by U.S. Olympic gold medalist and NBC announcer Chris Marlowe. Senior Judit Szekelyhidi (Ujszentivan, Hungary/Szegedian Club) and Mulford were both named to the all-tournament team.

From there, American stampeded through 18 straight wins, the fifth-longest winning streak in the nation. Sixteen of those wins were over Patriot League opponents with nine of them ending in a 3-0 decision. On Oct. 22, the Eagles and regionally ranked Georgetown battled to five games in Bender Arena as Kucerkova pumped in 23 kills and 12 digs and Szekelyhidi added 16 kills and 11 digs of her own. Solid throughout the season, Kucerkova connected with her 1,000 kill on Nov. 1 at Bender Arena in a 3-0 decision over Colgate.

Natasha Cornaz: 2002 Patriot League Championship MVP

At the Patriot League Championships, AU swept past fourth-seeded Army, 3-0 before defeating Lehigh in the final, 3-1 in front of a Comcast SportsNet audience. Sophomore Natacha Cornaz (Lausanne, Switzerland/Gymnase Auguste Piccard) returned from a foot fracture to be named the Patriot League Championship MVP. Nationally ranked Temple put an end to the winning streak with a 3-1 win over American on Nov. 30 to end the regular season. But the Eagles did not have long to dwell as they found on the next day they were playing the Gamecocks in the NCAAs in North Carolina’s Carmichael Auditorium.

American would have to brave more than stiff competition in Chapel Hill as an ice storm hit the southeastern coastline, leaving 75 percent of the state out of electricity. Battling icy roads, AU’s hotel lost electricity and most of the restaurant business was shut down for the week, causing more delay and stress on the team.

After a rough start in game one, American fell just short in the second game before capturing a crucial game three. At 4-2 in the third, the campus lost power for the second time in 24 hours as the match was halted for 25 minutes. Trailing 2-1, the Eagles were not able to overcome a 19-2 blocking differential. Currently, American is 0-4 in NCAA Tournament action.

Headlining individually for American was Kucerkova, who repeated as the Patriot League Player of the Year. The outside hitter led the league in kills for the second straight season and was fourth in hitting percentage (.307). She set a new school record in career kills per game with a 4.19 mark and ranks fourth all-time in single season kills with 513 in 2002.

The Eagles celebrate with their fans after capturing the 2002 Patriot League Championship.

Kucerkova’s dominance did not go unnoticed outside the league as she was recognized both regionally and nationally. She became only the second student-athlete in AU history to earn a national player of the year award, earning the Verizon Academic All-American Player of the Year accolade. Both she and Natalie Hand (Keizer, Ore./McNary) were District 2 Verizon Academic All-Americans for the second straight year. Hand was an Academic All-America Second Team.

Kucerkova was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second time in two years as she carries a 3.98 grade point-average (GPA) in business administration. Hand maintains a perfect 4.0 in Middle Eastern Affairs/International Development and political science. Kucerkova was also picked to the Northeast Region Team for the first time in her career after earning all-tournament honors at the Louisville Classic and at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Biddulph was named an All-Region Honorable Mention pick as she led the league in hitting percentage.

American had eight student-athletes named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll as the athletic department set a record for cumulative GPA including Kucerkova, Hand, Cornaz, Cathy Fluegeman (Muncie, Ind./Burris Laboratory School), Erin Allgaier (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Central), Daria Bobko (Moscow, Russia/S.E. School #783), Jen Cosco (Montvale, N.J./Pascack Hills) and Sabrina Vasconcelos (Fortaleza, Brazil/Colegio Christus).

The Eagles landed five players on the All-Patriot League Team including Kucerkova and Biddulph, who was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Fluegeman, Mulford and Szekelyhidi were named along with Biddulph to the second team.

The AU coaching staff: Head Coach Barry Goldberg and Assistant Coach Silvia Panak.

The Eagles have been chosen for several Patriot League Weekly Honors as Kucerkova earned two Player of the Week awards to bring her career total to four. Biddulph was picked for three Patriot League Rookie of the Week Awards. Mulford was also named the PL Player of the Week and took home the ECAC Division I Player of the Week Sept. 25 honor.

The 2002 team also reset numerous program records in the process. Cornaz now holds the best career hitting percentage mark with a .400 pace. The hard-hitter also ranks third in career service aces with a .56 average. Kucerkova set the career kills per game record with 4.19 and ranks fourth in single-season kills with 513.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men's cross country, women's cross country, men’s soccer, women's soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.

AU won early in September at the American Volleyball Classic in Bender Arena.