Oct. 5, 2007

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy trio of Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.), Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) and Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) combined for 39 kills and a .367 attack percentage as the Midshipmen posted a three-game sweep of Bucknell Friday night in Macdonough Hall. The 30-27, 30-20, 30-28 victory for the Mids snaps a three-match losing skid and boosts Navy's Patriot League record to 2-2, while the loss drops the Bison to the same record in league play.

"We are very happy to come away with the win," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "I don't think we played as well as we are capable of, but we played hard and that effort gave us a number of opportunities we were able to take advantage of. We did what we had to do to win."

The Bison scored six of the opening seven points of the opening game and held an 11-8 lead, but Navy used an 8-0 run to take a 16-11 advantage. The Mids slowly increased their lead until Navy was in front by the score of 29-22. After Bucknell closed to within two points at 29-27, a Bison attack error closed out the game.

An early 4-0 run in the second game gave the Mids a 10-6 advantage, a lead which they soon opened up to 18-10. Bucknell rallied and closed to within five points at 25-20, but four Navy kills and a Bison attack error allowed the Mids to take a two-games-to-one lead.

Bucknell held the lead through most of the third game, with its advantage reaching as many as five points (15-10). The Bison held a 22-20 lead when a kill by Sims pulled the Mids to within one point. Back-to-back attack errors by Bucknell quickly gave Navy a 23-22 lead. The two teams then traded points until Navy's Lindi Conner (Sr., Kingman, Kan.) tallied a block to give the Mids a 28-26 lead. Bucknell's Jenna Henderson recorded a kill to make the score 28-27, but Dougherty knocked down a kill of her own to take Navy to match point. Henderson proceeded to post another kill, but her ensuing serve went into the middle of the net to end the match.

Navy held a .280-.230 hitting percentage advantage and recorded eight service aces to just two for Bucknell.

Dougherty's 16 kills paced the Navy offense, followed by 13 kills from Sims and 10 kills and a .600 attack percentage from Gibbs. Dougherty and setter Marissa Watson (Jr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) both grabbed a Navy-best seven digs in the match.

Henderson's 18 kills led Bucknell, while her 11 digs tied Jennifer Rupp for the most among the Bison.

The Mids return to Macdonough Hall Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. match against Colgate. The Raiders entered Friday night's match at American tied for first place in the league with a 3-0 record.

"We're playing another team ahead of us in the standings Saturday, so we need to maintain our effort of tonight and clean things up a bit in order to be successful," said Schwob.