Oct. 9, 2007
Final Stats
Complete Box Score in PDF Format
HAMPTON, Va. - A balanced offense with nine players recording at least one kill helped the Navy volleyball team post a three-game sweep over Hampton, Tuesday night in Hampton, Va. The Mids improved to 13-8 on the season with the 30-20, 30-21, 30-27 victory over the now 10-13 Pirates.
"We are very pleased with not just the win, but how we played," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "Everyone played and everyone contributed to the victory. We received some very nice performances from people who have not seen much court time so far this year. Their receiving this confidence in themselves tonight will help us over the remainder of the season."
Navy started the match strong by scoring five of the opening six points of the first game and held a comfortable advantage over the remainder of the game. In contrast, both games two and three were very close.
The second game was tied at 17-17 when the Mids went on a 5-1 run to separate themselves slightly from the Pirates. Navy soon held a 23-21 advantage when the Mids went on a game-closing 7-0 run. A kill by Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) returned the serve back to Navy, then Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) dropped in a service ace to make the score 25-21. The remaining five points consisted of a Dougherty kill, a Hampton attack error, a Dougherty kill, a Hampton attack error and another Dougherty kill.
Navy tied several times to pull away from Hampton in game three, but never could manage to hold onto or expand slim leads. A 19-14 Navy lead closed to within one point at 21-20, then the Mids took a 26-21 advantage before the Pirates rallied to make the score 27-26. Abbie Merkl (So., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Lindi Conner (Sr., Kingman, Kan.) teamed on a block to give Navy a two-point lead, but a Barbara Beal (So., Patchogue, N.Y.) attack error sliced the advantage back down to one point. Merkl recorded a kill to take Navy to match point, then Beal knocked down a kill of her own to end the contest.
Navy totaled just a .185 hitting percentage on the night, but hauled in 42 digs (to 31 for Hampton) to hold the Pirates to a .088 attack percentage.
Dougherty, who was tabbed as this week's Patriot League Player of the Week, tallied 11 kills to lead the Mids. Aubrey Manes (So., Pratt, Kan.) recorded a career-high seven kills on the night, with Conner tying a career-best effort with six kills and Beal knocking down a career-high four kills.
Defensively for Navy, Aimee' Burns hauled in 12 digs.
The victory was Navy's 10th three-game sweep of the season, leaving Navy one shy of tying the school record for the most three-game wins in the program's Division I history. Navy's 1992 squad recorded a program-high 11 three-game sweeps, while the '99 and 2004 teams also tallied 10 sweeps during their respective campaigns.
The Mids will return to Patriot League action this weekend when Navy plays host to Lehigh Friday at 7 p.m. and Lafayette Saturday at 5 p.m. Both matches will be contested in Macdonough Hall.
"We want to end the first half of the league season with a strong effort this weekend," said Schwob. "There are not that many matches left in the season, so we have to be ready to go each time out."
