10/2/2004 - Women's Volleyball
Navy Picks up First League Victory
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Freshman Diane Sheldon (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and senior Ashley Van Hartesvelt (Breckenridge, Colo.) combined for 41 kills as the Navy volleyball team picked up a four-game victory over Holy Cross, Saturday night at Macdonough Hall. The Midshipmen earned their first victory of the league season (1-2) with the 33-31, 30-25, 24-30, 30-23 victory over the now 0-3 Crusaders.
"This was a challenging match," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "Playing the day after a difficult loss to Army and against a team who battles you on every point, we made plays when we needed to and are pleased with the win."
Navy slowly pulled away from Holy Cross in game one, breaking open an 18-17 match with five-straight points. Navy would eventually take leads of 26-20, 27-23 and 29-27 before the Crusaders rallied to tie the game at 29-29. The teams exchanged the next four points and at 31-31, Chrissy Fanning committed a service error for Holy Cross to give Navy its fifth game point. Sheldon then ended the game with an ace.
Sheldon totaled eight kills against just one error on 15 attempts in the opening game, while Van Hartesvelt knocked down seven kills against two errors on 12 swings. The Mids outhit the Crusaders in the game .306-.154, but Navy committed seven service errors to just one for Holy Cross.
Game two saw neither team able to break away from the other and featured 10 ties, with the last coming at 20-20. Navy then scored six-straight points to give the Mids enough of a cushion to pull out the victory and take a 2-0 lead in games.
After Holy Cross hit .333 to Navy's .143 to win game three, Navy broke open an 8-6 game four with a 7-1 run to take a 15-7 lead. Navy later scored five out of six points to jump in front by a 22-12 score on the way to closing out the match.
Navy outhit Holy Cross on the night, .220-.166, while totaling 70 kills to 46 for the Crusaders.
Sheldon finished the match with a career-high 21 kills and hit .317, while Van Hartesvelt added 20 kills, the sixth time this season she has totaled at least that many kills in a match. Sheldon's previous career high was eight kills. Sophomore middle blocker Beth McArthur (Roseville, Minn.) also played well for Navy, recording her second double-double in as many days and her fifth of the season with 10 kills and a season-high tying 15 digs to go along with three blocks.
Senior outside hitter Caitlin Agostinacchio led Holy Cross with 18 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Valerie Mora led all players with 18 digs.
Navy will step out of conference play Tuesday when the Mids play host to Hampton in a 6 p.m. match in Macdonough Hall, then will resume the Patriot League season next Friday at Bucknell and Saturday at Colgate.
