Oct. 1, 2005
Final Stats
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Beth McArthur (Jr., Roseville, Minn.) totaled eight kills and no attack errors on 10 attempts and four blocks to help lead the Navy volleyball team to a 30-17, 30-23, 30-23 victory over Lehigh, Saturday afternoon in Macdonough Hall. The victory improves Navy's league record to 3-2, while Lehigh falls to 0-4.
The match ended a challenging week for the Navy players, one which included three league matches in five days, as well as exam week at the Naval Academy.
"I have to give our girls a lot of credit for how they performed this week," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We bounced back from a disappointing five-game loss against Bucknell one week ago by playing very well against Tuesday against American, winning a tough five-game match Friday night against Lafayette and winning in three games today. It was a busy week, to say the least, but they stayed focused both in the classroom and on the volleyball court and performed well in both places."
Navy trailed 6-5 in game one before breaking the game open with an 11-1 run to take a 16-7 advantage, then never led by fewer than eight points over the remainder of the game. Navy hit a blistering .407 (14-3-27) in the game while holding the Mountain Hawks to a .000 attack percentage (6-6-31).
The Mids started off game two with a 9-2 run and held a lead of at least five points before posting the 30-23 victory.
Lehigh started off game three strong, scoring the opening four points of the game and then breaking out to a 10-4 lead. Navy would finally catch the Mountain Hawks at 17-17, then would tie the score again at 19-19, 20-20 and 21-21. At that point Ashley Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) stepped to the service line for Navy and served seven-straight points -- two aces and several other serves which Lehigh was unable to produce a solid attack off of -- to give Navy a 28-21 lead.
Musser, who Friday night set the all-time Navy record with 190 career service aces, totaled six additional aces Saturday afternoon, as well as six kills, a .333 attack percentage, 12 assists and four digs. Nikki England (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.) matched Musser with six kills, while Rachel Dougherty (So., Derwood, Md.) tallied five blocks.
Navy as a team outhit Lehigh .272-.036, recorded nine blocks to seven for Lehigh and hauled in an additional 12 digs (36-24).
The Mids will again play a trio of matches next week, with each of those contests taking place on the road. Navy will play Tuesday night at Hampton, then will play Friday at Army in the annual Star Match between the service academies and Saturday at Holy Cross. The Army match begins a stretch where the Mids will play seven-straight league matches on the road.
"This week was very tough for us, both mentally and physically," said Schwob. "We will have to bring the same type of emotion and mental toughness and desire we did this past week to our matches next week in order to be successful."
