Volleyball Faces Army This Saturday for Senior Day Match

Setting the Scene
Who: Bucknell (11-13, 8-7 Patriot League) vs. Army (17-7, 11-4 Patriot League)
When: Saturday, Nov. 15 at 4 p.m.
Where: Davis Gym - Lewisburg, Pa.
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: bucknellbison.com

About Bucknell

Bucknell completes the regular season campaign this Saturday with a match against Army on Saturday afternoon. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. and the link can be found on the Bucknell Volleyball schedule page. The Live Stats link for the match can also be found on the Bucknell Volleyball schedule page. Live updates will be tweeted on Bucknell Volleyball's X account.
The Orange & Blue obtained a second straight 2-0 weekend with wins over Holy Cross and four-time defending Patriot League champion Colgate. The Crusaders won the first set but the Bison won three straight to vanquish the improved Holy Cross squad. The Orange & Blue outlasted Colgate in a five-set epic. The Bison won the first two sets. Colgate rallied to force a fifth. Bucknell raced out to the early lead and rode the momentum to the big upset victory.
The triumph over Holy Cross clinched a fourth straight PL tournament bid for the Orange & Blue.
The wins improved Bucknell to 11-13 overall and 8-7 in conference play and positioned Bucknell for the chance to win the fourth seed and host a First Round matchup.
The Bison are tied with Navy for fourth place but the Midshipmen have the tiebreaker after sweeping Bucknell. The scenario for the Orange & Blue winning the fourth seed is simple. If Bucknell beats Army and Navy loses to Colgate, the Bison will host the Mids in Tuesday's First Round match.
Several Bison are represented in the conference leaderboards. Setter Caleigh O'Connell ranks second with 8.51 assists per set. Cameron Lloyd sits fourth with 4.20 digs per set. Sidney Shaffer ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.328). Riley Tucker is tenth in blocks per set (0.89).
Bucknell won two weekly awards after the 2-0 weekend. Shaffer earned her second Patriot League Player of the Week award for her 29 kills on the weekend and setting the program record for single game hitting percentage (.800) against Holy Cross. Lloyd won her second Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honor after collecting 55 digs, including 31 in four sets - a season high - versus the Crusaders.
The Bison were selected to finish third in the Patriot League preseason poll behind reigning champion Colgate and Army. Bucknell lost 3-2 in the Patriot League semifinals last year to the Black Knights of the Hudson.
Caleigh O'Connell returns for her senior season after winning 2024 Patriot League Setter of the Year. O'Connell picked up the 2025 preseason edition of the honor and along with Sidney Shaffer landed on the All-Patriot League Preseason team.
Tijana Kostic has one final year with the Bison after notching Second Team honors in 2024.
The program lost two-time Patriot League Libero of the Year Jordan Hardy to graduation. She was the first Bison to win the award and earn AVCA Honorable Mention honors. Hardy graduated as the program's all-time leader in digs with 1986.
Five freshmen join the Bison for 2025: Avery Bryan, Stephanie Eroh, Brynna Guy, Peyton McGee, and Klea Tarja. Four of the five players have seen action for Bucknell.
Bucknell has a new head coach at the helm. Tyler Hagstrom, who rebuilt the program, left in July for the head position at Penn. Assistant coach Jeremy Young was elevated to interim head coach. Young enters his fifth year overall in Lewisburg.

Senior Day

Bucknell will honor five exceptional student-athletes on Senior Day: Laura Caro, Bri Frazilus, Tijana Kostic, Caleigh O'Connell, and Riley Tucker. The first four are traditional four-year seniors while Tucker recently reclassified to senior status after accumulating enough credits. The five seniors played a humongous role in returning Bucknell Volleyball to among the best in the conference.

Scouting Army/Series History

The Black Knights went 16-12 overall and 10-6 in league contests in 2024. The team, full of underclassmen, started slow but caught fire at the end of the year storming into the conference tournament as the third seed. Army upset Bucknell in the semifinals before falling in an epic five-set match to Colgate in the championship game.
Army sits at 17-7 overall and 11-4 in conference play. Their league losses were to American (2x), Colgate, and Lehigh. The Black Knights already clinched the number three seed and will face Lehigh in the First Round.
The Bison and Black Knights shared one non-conference foe in Binghamton. Army defeated the foe while Bucknell fell in five sets.
Army was picked to finish second in the nine-team Patriot League.
Outside hitter Mackenzie Lynch was the only Black Knight to make the Preseason All-PL Team.
Army had two main cannons with Chloe Murakami (3.67) and Lynch (3.44) ranking fourth and fifth in the conference in kills per set.
Alma Kovaci Lee enters her 19th season as the head Black Knight and owns a 348-185 record.
Army leads the all-time series 49-16 and has won the last three matches.

Up Next

Bucknell will either host or travel to Navy for Tuesday's PL First Round contest.

Volleyball Faces Army This Saturday for Senior Day Match

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Players Mentioned

Avery Bryan

Laura Caro

Stephanie Eroh

Bri Frazilus

Brynna Guy

Jordan Hardy

Tijana Kostic

Cameron Lloyd

Peyton McGee

Caleigh O'Connell

Sidney Shaffer

Klea Tarja

Riley Tucker

Volleyball Faces Army This Saturday for Senior Day Match

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Avery Bryan

Laura Caro

Stephanie Eroh

Bri Frazilus

Brynna Guy

Jordan Hardy

Tijana Kostic

Cameron Lloyd

Peyton McGee

Caleigh O'Connell

Sidney Shaffer

Klea Tarja

Riley Tucker

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