Oct. 14, 2005
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Final Stats
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Navy volleyball team's five-match winning streak came to an end Friday night as the Midshipmen (13-6, 5-3 Patriot League) dropped a 30-28, 30-25, 27-30, 30-16 decision at American (14-8, 7-1 Patriot League).
"We fought hard the entire match and gave ourselves opportunities," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We didn't take advantage of those chances, though. We needed to play a much cleaner match and at a higher and more consistent level than we did to have won."
Navy took a 26-25 lead in game one on a kill from Beth McArthur (Jr., Roseville, Minn.), then miscommunication by the Mids on who was handling a pass led to an American point to tie the game at 26-26. A kill by Rubena Sukaj gave American a one-point lead, then the Eagles scored again when Navy could not handle a freeball by American. Rachel Dougherty (So., Derwood, Md.) pulled Navy to within 28-27 with a kill, but the teams played sideout volleyball over the next three points to give the Eagles the 30-28 win.
Navy struggled at the start of game two, falling behind by scores 4-0 and 6-1. The Mids would close to within three points at 12-9, but the Eagles went on a 6-2 run to take an 18-11 advantage. Navy would again close to within a trio of points several times late in the game, including 28-25, but American held off the Navy rally.
The Mids held a slim lead through most of game three and forced a fourth game with the 30-27 win, but American dominated game four to close out the match.
American outhit the Mids in the match, .284-.202, with much of the advantage coming in game four when the Eagles totaled a .364 percentage to Navy's .063. Navy outdug American on the night, 54-48.
Ashley Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) led Navy with 15 kills and hit .321, while Dougherty knocked down 11 kills and hit .391. Defensively for the Mids, Andrea Wernecke (Sr., Gaithersburg, Md.) and Megan Vehovic (Sr., Clymer, Pa.) hauled in 16 and 11 digs, respectively, with McArthur totaling 10 digs and four blocks.
"We learned a lot about ourselves the first time we played American, and those lessons led to a five-match winning streak," said Schwob. "Hopefully we can again learn from this loss and apply those lessons to our next matches."
Navy will return to action Tuesday night when the Midshipmen play host to Coppin State in a 6 p.m. match at Macdonough Hall, then will take to the road next weekend for matches Friday at Bucknell and Saturday at Colgate.
Prior to Tuesday's match the Navy volleyball program will recognize Musser for setting the school's service ace record. She tallied the 200th ace of her career tonight and, in addition to holding the Navy record, stands fourth in Patriot League history.
