Oct. 20, 2007

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Army totaled a .378 attack percentage to outhit Navy by over 100 points and post a 30-27, 30-23, 30-21 victory over the Midshipmen, Saturday night in Macdonough Hall.

"We allowed one run to Army in each game, but it was one too many," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We also didn't match Army's defensive execution tonight."

A fluke play late in game one -- which was tied 11 times -- turned into one of the decisive points of the match. Army used a 5-0 run to take a 21-16 lead in the game, but Navy rallied and tied the score at 26-26. On the ensuing play, Navy's Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) sent a hard attack down the middle of the Army defense. Army's Briana Stremick dropped to the floor and placed her hands in front of her in an attempt to simply bat the ball up in the air, but due to the speed Gibbs had placed on the ball it instead ricocheted over the net and back to Navy's side. However, in addition to going over the net it also flew over the head of two Navy players and fell to the ground inbounds for an Army kill. Instead of serving with a 27-26 lead, the Mids were receiving serve, trailed by a 27-26 count and had lost the momentum from its rally.

The Black Knights quickly proceeded to tally back-to-back kills to take a 29-27 lead before Gibbs knocked down a kill for the Mids. She then stepped to the service line and sent the ball out of bounds to give Army the first game.

Game two was tied 11 times, including at 15-15 when Army scored three-straight points to take an 18-15 lead. The Black Knights then opened up a 25-20 advantage before closing out the game.

The third game saw Navy take an early 8-4 advantage, but Army scored eight-straight and 16 of the next 20 points to pull in front by the score of 20-12.

While Army totaled its .378 attack percentage, the Black Knights recorded 10.0 team blocks and 36 digs to hold Navy to a .260 percentage. In comparison, the Mids totaled just 4.0 team blocks and 30 digs. Army also held a 6-1 advantage in service aces on the night.

Individually, Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) led Navy with 16 kills and a .316 attack percentage, while Gibbs added 14 kills and a .391 hitting percentage. Army was led offensively by 17 kills and a .600 hitting percentage from Jamie Clark.

Dougherty's seventh kill of the match also was the 1,000th of her career. She becomes just the fifth player in Navy history to tally 1,000 career kills on the Division I level (since 1991).

The win improves Army's overall record on the year to 19-4 and its Patriot League mark to 7-2. The Mids fell to 16-9 on the season and 5-4 in league play with the loss.

Navy will next play Tuesday night at Coppin State before resuming Patriot League play Friday at American.