Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Lehigh
Volleyball to Host Lehigh, Lafayette to Open League Play at Gillis Field House
September 25, 2025 | Volleyball
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army West Point volleyball (7-4, 1-1) returns to Gillis Field House on Friday and Saturday for the second week of Patriot League play, with matchups set against the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks (6-5, 0-2) and the Lafayette College Leopards (3-9, 1-1).
The Black Knights open Patriot League play in West Point on Friday, September 26 at 7 p.m. ET, taking on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Last season, the two teams split the season series, with Lehigh winning in five sets at home while Army defeating the Mountain Hawks in four sets at Gillis Field House.
Army continues league play the next day, Saturday, Sept. 27, at 4 p.m. ET for their first matchup of the season against the Lafayette Leopards. The Black Knights swept the season series and won 3-0 in both games against the Leopards in 2024.
For fans who can't make it to either game, both matches will stream live on ESPN+.
ARMY STORYLINES:
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND: The Black Knights opened Patriot League play on the road last week 1-1. First, the Black Knights traveled to Annapolis, Md., to take on Navy, winning the first league match and Star of the season, defeating the Midshipmen 3-1. Army then traveled to American on Saturday, ultimately falling to the Eagles 3-1.
STAR MATCH SHOWDOWN: The Black Knights and Midshipmen renewed their rivalry on Sept. 19th for the 44th annual Star Match as part of the Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA. The Black Knights went on to defeat the Midshipmen in four sets. Navy would claim the first set 25-23, but Army came storming back to claim the next three in Wesley Brown Field House, 25-20, 24-14 and 25-22 to take the 3-1 win. Five Black Knights finished the game with 10+ kills, Chloe Murakami had 17 kills and Juliette Myrick tallied her second triple-double to secure the Star.
LYNCH LEADING THE WAY: Senior outside hitter Mackenzie Lynch served as the primary driving force of not only Army's attack, but also in all aspects on the floor. The senior finished with 10+ kills in nine of Army's 11 games this season, including a season-high 20 kills against Green Bay. Currently, she leads the team in kills (137), kills per set (3.43), points (157.5) and points per set (3.94). She also added 114 digs, 22 blocks and nine service aces.
MURAKAMI MAGIC: Senior outside hitter Chloe Murakami serves as the other key outside in Army's offense this season. Murakami currently is second on the team with 126 kills and 3.23 kills per set. She leads the team with nine service aces and adds 93 digs, good for fourth on the team. She tallied a match-high 17 kills in Army's Star Match win over Navy on Friday.
SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS: Junior Juliette Myrick serves as the primary playmaker for Army. She leads the team with 292 assists so far this season, averaging 7.30 a set. In six games this season, Myrick finished with 30+ assists. On Sept. 7 against Binghamton, she surpassed the 1,000 all-time career assists mark. She earned her second triple-double with 29 assists, 10 kills and 13 digs at Navy on Friday. She tallied a season-high 38 assists against Bryant Sept. 13.
THE RISE OF PARKER: Michelle Parker has quickly risen as an impact player in the middle for the Black Knights. She earned career-high 10 kills, .600 hitting percentage, and 13.5 points at Navy, and finished last week with 17 kills and 10 blocks while hitting .517 percent. Parker also leads the team with a .397 hitting percentage and is second with 26 total blocks.
BEWARE OF THE OPPOSITE: Freshman opposite Marin Harvey has made a major impact on the right side for Army. Over the past three games, Harvey has scored 21 kills while hitting .203 percent with six blocks. She earned career single-game bests in kills (10), blocks (3.0) and points (11.5) at Navy last Friday.
BENDING TO HER WILL: Breelyn Bender has quickly emerged as Army's biggest threat in the middle. The sophomore middle blocker currently leads the team with a .333 hitting percentage, 29 blocks and 1.07 blocks per set. She had a career game against Rider on Sept. 6 with 13 kills while hitting .600, while also having a season-high seven blocks against Hofstra.
HOLDING THE BACK LINE: The Black Knights are one of the top teams in the country in defending their back line. Army currently averages 16.05 digs a set, which sits as the 25th-best mark in NCAA Div. I, above schools including Texas, TCU, Louisville, Creighton, Pitt, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Annette Lee and Mackenzie Lynch lead the passing efforts, with the two having 142 digs (3.94 per set) and 114 digs (2.85 per set), respectively. Three other Black Knights are nearly 100 digs over in the first 11 games, including Myrick (98), Murakami (98) and Naomi Chinchar (91).
History with Lehigh
- The Black Knights lead the series, 49-19
- Current Streak: Army, 1 win
- Last Army win: Nov. 8, 2024, 3-1
- Last Lehigh win: Sept. 20, 2024, 3-2
Scouting the Mountain Hawks
- Lehigh is 6-5 to start the season, with wins over Fordham, Binghamton, Bellarmine, James Madison, Sacred Heart and NJIT. They have dropped their last three games, including their opening Patriot League games against Bucknell and Lafayette.
- Head coach Shawm McLaughlin is in his first season coaching at the collegiate level after serving as the associate head coach at Delaware.
- Alysia Fingall, one-time Patriot League Player of the Week, tallies a time high 3.27 kills per set and a .336 hitting percentage. Ufuoma Omene and Mary Massias also carry the weight of the offense, registering 111 and 101 kills, respectively.
- Abby Felkai and Grace Slovensky serve as the offense runners, cataloguing 225 and 131 assists plus 5.77 and 4.09 assists, both respectively.
- One-time Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week Sophia Bond defends the back line with 172 digs (4.41 digs a set) with a .962 reception percentage. Madison McCartney guards the net with 51 total blocks and averages 1.31 blocks per set.
History with Lafayette
- The Black Knights lead the series, 63-5
- Current Streak: Army, 6 wins
- Last Army win: Nov. 16, 2024, 3-0
- Last Lafayette win: Oct. 16, 2021, 3-1
Scouting the Leopards
- Lafayette has earned three wins this season, with two non-conference wins over Youngstown State and Iona, plus a win in Patriot League play over Lehigh.
- CJ Werneke is in his first year as the head coach for the Leopards. Before arriving in Easton, Pa., Werneke served as the associate head coach at Binghamton for three seasons. He also had head coaching stints at Rutgers (2008-19) and Fairfield (2002-08).
- Auma Mbeche-Odhiambo leads the Leopards' attack, averaging a team-high in kills (157), kills per set (3.57) and hitting percentage (.260).
- Mackenzie Calhoun and Sophia Wilson split setter duties, with Calhoun having 254 assists with a team-high 5.64 assists per set, and Wilson adding 187 total assists and 4.25 assists per set.
- Emily Gouldrup leads Lafayette's digging efforts with 205 digs and 4.56 digs per set. As for blocking, Abby Nicholson holds a team-high 46 blocks and 1.02 blocks per set.
