Nov. 3, 2006
Final Stats
Complete Box Score in PDF Format
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- American outhit Navy by nearly 200 points in posting a three-game sweep of the Midshipmen Friday night in Macdonough Hall. The Eagles posted a .182 attack percentage and held Navy to a -.009 percentage in recording the 30-18, 30-8, 33-31 victory over the Midshipmen.
American remains in first place in the Patriot League with a 12-0 record on the year, while Navy falls to 3-9 in league matches.
"We were playing point-for-point with American in game one until their serving started to heat up," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "After a disappointing game two, we came back nicely in game three and had a couple of opportunities to win the game. We could have easily packed it in after game two, but we kept battling and finally that hard work started to pay off in the final game."
American held a 17-15 lead in game one until Ann Recht and Elizabeth Maloney combined for blocks on the ensuing two plays to give the Eagles a four-point advantage. American then scored five of the next six points to take a 24-16 lead and put the game away.
The Eagles dominated game two, hitting .440 and limiting Navy to a -.148 percentage in running away with the game.
Game three would turn out to be a different story, however, with the frame featuring 18 ties and eight lead changes.
American held a 27-25 lead when an attack error by Rubena Sukaj cut the margin in half. Navy then tied the game on a blocking error by American. After the Eagles took a 28-27 lead on a kill from Tara Stradling, Navy answered back with a kill from Alexa Gibbs (So., Springfield, Ill.) to again tie the game. Nikki England (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) then stepped to the service line for Navy, but served into the net to give the Eagles their first match point of the night. They would not convert it, however, thanks to a kill from Jessie Sims (So., Etowah, N.C.).
An attack error by Recht gave Navy a 30-29 lead, then Sims had a swing to win the game for the Mids but was blocked by Recht and Christina Nash. Nash blocked Sims again on the next play to give the Eagles a 31-30 lead, but Navy team captain Megan Boyd (Sr., Richmond, Va.) tallied a kill to knot the game at 31-31.
The Mids gave their Eagles their third match point following a ball handling error by Kim Koss (Sr., Clarence Center, N.Y.), which they converted when Rachel Dougherty's (Jr., Derwood, Md.) attack attempt sailed long.
American totaled 10 service aces, 51 digs and 11.0 team blocks in the match, with Navy tallying one ace, 42 digs and 8.0 team blocks.
Sukaj led all players with 11 kills in the match, but she also committed 11 attack errors on her 35 swings for a .000 attack percentage. Navy was led by England's eight kills, with Dougherty adding six kills.
Navy will close its 2006 campaign with a trio of matches next week, starting Tuesday at UMBC and ending with home matches Friday against Colgate and Saturday against Bucknell.
