Nov. 8, 2005
Final Stats
Box score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
DOVER, Del. - After dropping the opening two games of the match, the Navy volleyball team rallied from a 6-2 deficit in game five to defeat Delaware State, Tuesday night in Dover, Del. The 22-30, 21-30, 30-23, 32-30, 15-10 triumph by the Mids was the fifth-straight victory by Navy and improved its record to 20-7 on the season. Delaware State saw its four-match winning streak come to an end as its record fell to 11-18 on the year.
"It took awhile for us to find a rhythm tonight, and a lot of that was due to how well Delaware State played," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "I was very pleased with how we responded to the challenge of being down two games and playing on the road. Our bench was crucial to our win tonight. Everyone who took to the floor made plays for us."
Navy's offense struggled in the early portion of the match, hitting a combined .118 in the opening two games while allowing the Lady Hornets to hit .189 as Mids dug on 0-2 deficit for themselves.
Game three saw Navy hold a slim lead for much of the game and eventually used a 7-0 run to take a 26-18 advantage and win its first game of the night.
Game four was even tighter than game three, with the Mids never trailing but also never able to open up an advantage of more than four points. Navy would take a 29-27 lead late in the game, but back-to-back points by the Lady Hornets would the game at 29-29. The teams played sideout volleyball for three-straight points before Katie Erwin (So., Osmond, Neb.) and Ashley Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) combined for a block to give Navy the 32-30 win.
The Lady Hornets jumped out to early leads in game five of 4-1 and 6-2 before the Mids scored four-straight points on serving from Karla Lazenby (Jr., Richmond, Va.) to tie the game. The teams traded the next four points to make the score 8-8, then Jessie Sims (Fr., Etowah, N.C.) stepped to the service line for the Mids and promptly served four-straight points to give Navy a 12-8 lead. After a Delaware State sideout, the Mids scored back-to-back points to take a 14-9 lead.
Navy totaled eight kills and just one error on 18 swings in game five for a .389 attack percentage, while holding the Lady Hornets to a .038 percentage in the game (6 kills, 5 errors, 26 attempts). That mark helped Navy record a .314 percentage over the final three games, with Delaware State hitting a combined .130 over the same span.
The Mids totaled 16 team blocks in the match, with Megan Boyd (Jr., Richmond, Va.) tallying a school record 13 blocks. Also keying the Navy defense was Andrea Wernecke (Sr., Gaithersburg, Md.) with 21 digs and Sims with 13 digs. Navy's offense was led by Musser's 18 kills and 17 kills from Rachel Dougherty (So., Derwood, Md.). Musser added 26 assists and 10 digs for her fifth triple-double of the campaign.
Navy's bench also played a big role in the victory, with strong contributions coming from Erwin, Aimee' Burns (So., Dallas, Texas), Jacqui Ludeman (So., Oxford, Mich.) and Lazenby.
The Midshipmen will conclude the 2005 regular season Thursday night with a 7 p.m. match at Loyola. Navy will then face Army Nov. 18 in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament at American.
