Sept. 30, 2005
Final Stats
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- After a match of slow starts, the Navy volleyball team began game five by jumping out to leads of 3-1 and 9-2 before recording a 15-8 victory to win the game and the match over Lafayette, Friday night in Macdonough Hall. The 28-30, 30-22, 30-20, 28-30, 15-8 victory raises Navy's Patriot League record to 2-2, while the Leopards fell to 1-2.
"It was what we expected coming into tonight," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "A long, hard-fought match between two very evenly matched teams."
Beth McArthur (Jr., Roseville, Minn.) tallied three kills on five swings and one block in game five, with Nikki England (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.) recording one kill, one dig and a pair of blocks in the game.
Navy outhit Lafayette in the fifth game, .211-.056. The Mids tallied eight kills and four errors on 19 attempts in the game, while Lafayette finished with six kills and five errors on 18 swings.
Navy started the match by scoring the opening two points, but Lafayette would score eight-straight of its own to take an 8-2 lead. Navy rallied right back and tied the score at 9-9, then took leads of 14-11 and 16-12 before holding a five-point advantage at 20-15. Lafayette would bounce right back to take a 24-23 lead before the score would be tied at 26-26 and 27-27. Lafayette went ahead 28-27 when Navy's Ashley Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) hit the net on a wide-open attempt to knock back a Lafayette overpass, then an attack error by Musser gave the Leopards a 29-27 lead. Veronica Canto-Ponce served into the net for Lafayette to allow Navy to pull to within one point, but a service error by England ended the game.
Lafayette again threatened to pull away from Navy early in game two, jumping out to leads of 7-2 and 11-5. After Navy closed to within 14-13, Musser stepped to the service line and helped jump serve Navy to seven-straight points and a 20-14 lead. The Leopards would eventually close to within three points at 24-21, but Navy closed out the game with a 6-1 run.
Musser totaled a pair of aces in the second game and ended the night with four aces. That brings her career total to 190 and allows her to break the Navy Division I record of 189 career aces set by Katie Schullian from 1991-94.
In addition to Musser's serving in the second game, McArthur connected on each of her eight swings to help Navy record a .273 attack percentage as a team.
Game three was even in the early stages before the Mids broke open a 6-5 lead with a 10-2 run to build a 16-7 advantage. Lafayette would climb back to within five points several times in the game, with the last coming at 22-17, before the Mids closed out the game on an 8-3 run.
Megan Boyd (Jr., Richmond, Va.) was the offensive standout in the third game for Navy, knocking down six of her nine kills in the match and recording a .333 attack percentage in the game. Navy as a team recorded a .158 attack percentage in the third game, while holding Lafayette to a -.079 mark.
Lafayette again started game four strongly, jumping out to early leads of 5-1 and 7-2 before Navy would again rally and tie the game at 8-8. The remainder of the game would feature 13 ties, with the last coming at 28-28. The Leopards would score a pair of points to win the game and force the decisive game five. Lafayette recorded a hitting percentage of .000 in the fourth game -- 11 kills and 11 errors on 38 swings --- but Navy recorded a -.-20 percentage in the game -- 11 kills and 12 errors on 49 attempts.
Navy totaled 19 blocks in the match, the second-highest total in Navy history, while Lafayette recorded 11 team blocks. That advantage would help the Mids outhit the Leopards on the night, .150-.018.
Individually, McArthur totaled the first triple-double of her career with a match-high 18 kills, 12 digs and a career-high 11 blocks, with the latter also being the second-highest total recorded by a Mid. She would also record a .314 attack percentage on the night.
Joining McArthur with double-digit kills was Rachel Dougherty (So., Derwood, Md.) with 13 to go along with a .414 hitting percentage and eight blocks. Other defensive standouts for Navy included Andrea Wernecke (Sr., Gaithersburg, Md.) with 13 digs, Kim Koss (Jr., Clarence Center, N.Y.) with 11 digs and England with six blocks.
Canto-Ponce led Lafayette with 14 kills, three aces and six digs, while Michaela Donohue totaled 12 kills and 24 digs.
Five of Navy's 14 matches this season have been extended to five games, with the Mids picking up their second five-game victory of the year.
"It was a great team victory," said Schwob. "Our defense was very strong. We were pretty balanced statistically, with a lot of different people contributing in several areas. When we went to our bench, the players responded. It was a very tough match and one which required a lot of mental toughness. That is something we need to bring again Saturday afternoon against Lehigh."
The Mids will play host to Lehigh Saturday at 4 p.m. in Macdonough Hall. It will be Navy's last home league match until the final weekend of the season, Nov. 4-5.
