Nov. 16, 2007
Complete Box Score in PDF Format Final Stats
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Top-seeded American held off No. 4 Navy, 30-21, 30-28, 30-28, Friday night in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Volleyball Tournament at Bender Arena on the American campus.
Navy concludes its season with the loss, while American moves on to Saturday's title match against the winner of the No. 2 Army vs. No. 3 Colgate semifinal match.
The Mids posted a 21-12 overall record this season, the third 20-win season for the program over the last four years, and recorded an 8-6 mark in league play.
"It is always hard when a season ends," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "This was one of the most unselfish teams I have coached in my 12 years at Navy. We didn't make the playoffs last year and we were not picked to make them again this year. But the players worked hard from the very beginning and made a lot of sacrifices for the good of the team."
The opening part of game one was very close and featured 11 ties, with the last coming at 12-12. The Eagles then ran off four consecutive points to separate themselves a bit from the Mids. American soon held a 25-20 lead before closing out the game with a 5-1 run.
American jumped out in front of the Mids by the score of 14-8 in the second game and eventually took a 25-16 advantage. Navy promptly went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 27-27. Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) had the hot hand on both offense and defense for Navy during the run, tallying four kills and recording a trio of block assists.
The teams traded the next two points to make the score 28-28, then the Eagles reached game point on a kill from 2007 Patriot League Player of the Year Ruben Sukaj. An attack error on the Mids ended the game.
Navy started the third game aggressively and opened up an eight-point advantage midway through the game. American rallied and tied the game at 28-28, then tallied back-to-back kills to end the match.
American totaled 49 kills and hit .218 in the match, while holding Navy to 35 kills and a .099 attack percentage. Navy found success in its blocking game this evening and totaled 11.0 blocks to 10.0 for American.
"I think the players did a good job of making adjustments during the match, during games and even during individual points," said Schwob. "We played in spurts, however, and you need to play a complete match against American to be successful, especially at their place and in the league tournament."
Navy's Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) led Navy's offense with 11 kills on the night. That tally gives her 500 kills on the year, a new school single season record. Having one of the best nights of her career for the Mids was Krista Eschelman (So., Germantown, Md.), who posted seven kills and six blocks.
Sukaj led the Eagles with 20 kills.
