Oct. 6, 2007

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- After winning the opening two games of its match against Colgate by a combined six points, the Navy volleyball team dropped the next two before going on to fall 15-13 in the fifth game, Saturday afternoon at Macdonough Hall. The 29-31, 27-30, 30-26, 30-23, 15-13 victory improves Colgate's Patriot League record to 4-1, while Navy slipped to 2-3 in league matches with the loss.

"Game three was a big turning point," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We had every opportunity to end the match right there, but we gave Colgate life by not doing what we had done in winning games one and two. We waited for points to come to us instead of going out and earning them as we did in winning the first two games. Our intensity level also slipped as the match went on."

The decisive fifth game saw Colgate score the opening four points before Navy answered with a 4-0 run of its own to tie the game. The score was then tied at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8 when the Raiders tallied back-to-back points to take a 10-8 lead. Navy responded with a run of three-straight points to take an 11-10 lead. The teams traded the next two points before Colgate took a 13-12 lead on a Navy service error and a Navy attack error. The Mids tied the game at 13-13 on a kill from Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.), but Colgate closed out the match with a pair of kills.

The two teams played to a near standstill statistically. Navy totaled 74 kills, a .249 hitting percentage, 66 digs and 10.0 blocks, while Colgate tallied 77 kills, a .238 attack percentage, 70 digs and 7.5 team blocks. Both teams recorded five service aces, while the Mids committed 12 service errors to 11 for the Raiders.

Individually, Dougherty's 22 kills led all players in the match, with teammates Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) adding a season-high 20 kills and Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) knocking down 17. Dougherty also paced the Navy defensive players with 15 digs, while Krista Eschelman (So., Germantown, Md.) contributed a career-best eight blocks.

Colgate was led offensively by Casey Ritt with 20 kills and defensively by Katrina Zawojski with 20 digs.

The two-hour, 25-minute match saw Colgate tally 131 points and Navy 123. The score was tied a total of 47 times on the afternoon.

Navy will next play Tuesday night at Hampton before returning home to face Patriot League foes Lehigh Friday night and Lafayette Saturday evening.