10/13/2004 - Women's Volleyball
Volleyball to Close First Half of League Season this Weekend
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team will finish the first half of the Patriot League season this weekend with matches Friday at Lehigh and Saturday at Lafayette, with both contests slated to begin at 7 p.m.
With just two matches remaining before the first half of the campaign comes to a close, Navy is in a three-way tie for fourth place in the league standings. American leads the pack with a 5-0 record, Army stands second at 4-1, and Bucknell is in third place with a 3-2 record. Navy, Holy Cross and Lafayette all have posted 2-3 records, while Lehigh and Colgate stand one match behind with 1-4 marks.
In the preseason poll of the league's coaches and sports information contacts, American was slated to place first, followed by Army in second and Bucknell in third place. Navy was tabbed to place fourth in the league, with Colgate and Lehigh tying for fifth place. Holy Cross was predicted to place seventh and Lafayette was tabbed to place eighth.
The Mids have lost matches this season to American (3-0), Army (3-1) and Bucknell (3-1), and have defeated Holy Cross (3-1) and Colgate (3-0).
Navy is coming off a split of two league matches last weekend, losing Friday at Bucknell and winning Saturday at Colgate. Ashley Van Hartesvelt (Sr., Breckenridge, Colo.) averaged 4.71 kills and 1.57 blocks per game on the weekend, while Beth McArthur (So., Roseville, Minn.) averaged 3.17 kills and 3.50 digs per game and totaled a .255 hitting percentage. Karla Lazenby (So., Richmond, Va.) was a defensive spark off the bench for Navy, setting a new career high for digs each night with six against the Bison and nine against the Raiders.
As a team last weekend, Navy outhit its pair of foes, .220-.143, thanks in part to averaging 3.57 blocks per game on the trip. The Mids still struggled with their serving, committing 26 errors and tallying only 10 aces in the two matches.
Balance has been a key for Navy during the league season, with four players averaging two or more kills per game, five players totaling over 100 attempts, three averaging multiple digs per game and five players averaging at least 0.50 blocks per game. Van Hartesvelt leads the team in kills (4.11 kpg) and blocks (1.22 bpg), outside hitter and team captain Katey Geary (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) has recorded a team-high .224 hitting percentage, with McArthur second at .216 and leading the way defensively with 3.12 digs per game. In addition, setter Ashley Musser (Jr., Industry, Pa.) leads Navy with 0.72 service aces per game.
"While our loss last Friday was disappointing, I think we picked up some momentum with our win Saturday," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "With a good week of practice we hope to carry that into this weekend. We are facing two teams who are battling with us for the playoffs, so I expect two close matches, just as we had last season."
Lehigh will begin its week by playing host to American Thursday night in Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks are coming off back-to-back road losses at Holy Cross (five games) and Army (four games). Hitting percentage has been a problem for Lehigh during the league season, with the Mountain Hawks totaling only two more kills on 72 more attempts than their opponents. Lehigh is hitting .136 on the year while allowing foes to hit .218. In addition, Lehigh has totaled 34 aces, but has committed 62 service errors and allowed 52 aces through five league matches.
Sophomore outside hitter Michelle Schwendenmann leads Lehigh with 3.37 kills per game and is one of three Mountain Hawks to average two or more digs per game.
The road teams won both matches in the series last season, with Navy posting a five-game victory (30-24, 26-30, 30-23, 22-30, 16-14) in Bethlehem. Van Hartesvelt knocked down a career-high 32 kills to go along with 17 digs and a .257 attack percentage in the match.
Lafayette enters a Friday night match against American on a four-match losing streak. The slide by the Leopards coincides with the loss of sophomore middle blocker Shannon Fisher and senior middle blocker Erin Brune to injuries prior to the start of their Oct. 2 match against Colgate. Lafayette has won only three games during its skid.
Veronica Canto-Ponce leads the team with 4.16 kills and 0.84 blocks per game during the Patriot League season. Already the focal point of Lafayette's offensive attack prior to the loss of her teammates, the sophomore right side hitter has received almost one of out of every three sets over the last four matches (201 of 646).
As a team during the league season, the Leopards are averaging 2.47 aces, while surrendering 1.58 aces per game, but are being outhit, .199-.132. Despite taking 40 more swings their their opponents have, the Leopards have totaled 18 fewer kills.
Navy won both matches from Lafayette last season, including winning in Easton in four games. McArthur had one of her better matches of the season in that victory, totaling 13 kills, 19 digs, five blocks and a .357 hitting percentage.
