Nov. 5, 2005
Final Stats
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Jessie Sims (Fr., Etowah, N.C.) tallied 15 kills, 16 digs and a .542 hitting percentage to help the Navy volleyball team post a 30-23, 30-20, 30-18 victory over Holy Cross, Saturday night in Macdonough Hall. The victory in the Patriot League regular season finale for the Mids improves Navy's league record to 10-4, the most league victories recorded by a Navy volleyball team, and to 19-7 on the entire season.
"It was a good final league match of the year," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We only had to look back at our first meeting with Holy Cross (a five game Navy victory) to know they play tough against us. We came out ready to play at the start of the match and maintained that level of play throughout the contest. We also received contributions from everyone who took to the floor. Our bench has been a big reason for our success this year."
Sims began the match by recording four kills and eight digs in game one, then knocked down five kills in game two. She ended the match by tallying five kills, three digs and one service ace in game three.
Also hitting a high percentage on the night for Navy were Rachel Dougherty (So., Derwood, Md.) and Nikki England (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.). Dougherty finished the match with 15 kills and a .400 hitting percentage, while England totaled nine kills and no errors on 19 swings for a .474 percentage.
Ashley Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) just missed her fifth triple-double of the season for Navy with 11 kills, 29 assists and nine digs, while Megan Vehovic (Sr., Clymer, Pa.) hauled in a match-high 18 digs for the Mids.
Navy hit the ball consistently throughout the match, totaling hitting percentages of .351 in game one, .350 in game two and .348 in game three. While the Navy offense was clicking, the defense totaled 66 digs and held Holy Cross to a .090 percentage in the match.
The Cruseaders, who fell to 2-11 in league matches and 6-19 on the entire season, were led by seven kills from Valerie Mora and 10 digs from Caitlin O'Callaghan.
"I'm very happy for our players, especially our seniors who played well in their last appearance in Macdonough Hall," said Schwob. "The seniors have led us all year and have kept us working hard in order to accomplish many of the goals we set out for ourselves in August. Now we will use our final two matches this week to begin preparing ourselves for the postseason and working to accomplish a new set of goals."
Navy's 10 Patriot League victories tops the previous mark of nine set by Navy's 1999 team, while Navy's league winning percentage of .714 is the third-best mark in school history (.857, 6-1, in 1992; .750, 9-3 in '99).
Although there are three league matches remaining next weekend, the field and the pairings for the Patriot League Tournament have already been set. American has secured the top seed and earned the right to play host to the Nov. 18-19 tournament with a 13-1 record. Navy and Army are assured of facing each other in one semifinal match, although the final seedings for the two teams has yet to be finalized.
If Army defeats Holy Cross on Nov. 12, the Black Knights would receive the No. 2 seed and the Mids would be seeded third. Should the Crusaders top Army, Navy will receive the No. 2 seed and the Black Knights will be seeded third. Army enters its league finale with a 10-3 record, but Navy holds the tiebreaker over Army thanks to defeating the Black Knights twice this season.
Bucknell, 8-5 on the year with one league match left to play, is the No. 4 seed and will face American in the first round of the tournament.
Navy will close the regular season with a pair of local road matches this week. The Mids will play Tuesday at Delaware State and Thursday at Loyola. A victory in either match would give Navy back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time on the Division I level, while a pair of victories would give Navy 42 wins over the last two years and set a new two-year win total for the program.
