Sept. 6, 2006

Final Stats

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team posted a three-game sweep over Howard Wednesday night in Macdonough Hall to record the program's first win of the young season. The Midshipmen (1-4) defeated the Lady Bison (0-4) 30-19, 30-25, 30-28 in front of a noisy crowd of nearly 200 fans.

"It was nice to break into the win column," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We worked hard last week but didn't see our efforts show up on our record. Tonight was another step in the maturity of this team. We are not near where we want to or need to eventually be, but winning this match in three games takes us closer."

The Mids controlled game one, outhitting the Lady Bison .424 to -.088 and using an early 11-1 run to break the game open. Games two and three were different stories, however.

The Mids held a 16-14 lead in game two before Howard scored six of the next seven points to take a 20-17 advantage. Navy tied the game at 22 and scored the next point to re-take the lead, but back-to-back points by the Lady Bison gave Howard a 24-23 advantage. Navy answered with a 6-0 run to take a 29-24 lead before posting the 30-25 victory.

Howard held a slim lead through the majority of game three with its largest advantage coming at 16-12. After tying the game at 22-22, the Mids scored the next four points to take a 26-22 lead. Navy would quickly reach match point at 29-25, but Howard scored the next three-points to pull to within one at 29-28. After a Navy timeout, Nikki England (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) notched her 14th and final kill of the night on an attack which landed just inches inside of the backline to end game and the match.

England began the match by recording six kills and no errors on nine swings in game one and did not commit her first hitting error of the night until game three. She would end the match with 14 kills and two errors on 28 swings for an attack percentage of .429, while also recording a Navy-high nine digs and a match-best four service aces.

"Nikki continued her strong play from last weekend," said Schwob. "She knocked down several key swings for us tonight. Although her contributions don't jump out in the box score, Karla Lazenby (Sr., Richmond, Va.) came in during both games two and three and made some huge plays for us. We had a great run as soon as she went onto the court in game two, and was solid for us throighout game three. It was great to see her play well."

After Navy enjoyed a large advantage in hitting during the opening game of the match, the two teams hit an identical .156 attack percentage in game two, then the Lady Bison outhit the Mids .120 to .091 in game three. The remainder of the statistics between the two teams were fairly equal, with Navy recording one additional dig and service ace and Howard holding the blocking advantage by one-half of a block.

Individually, England was the lone player in the match to reach double figures in kills.

Navy will quickly return to the court this weekend to play a total of four matches at the Chesapeake Challenge. Navy will open the tournament with matches Friday at 2 p.m. against Providence and 6 p.m. against La Salle in Macdonough Hall before finishing play at the tournament Saturday with a pair of matches at Loyola.