Sept. 22, 2007
Final Stats
Complete Box Score in PDF Format
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) led three Mids with double figures kills as the Navy volleyball team recorded a three-game sweep over Holy Cross Saturday afternoon in Worcester, Mass. Navy recorded a 30-21, 30-24, 30-25 victory over the Crusaders in what was the opening match of the Patriot League season for the Mids.
"It was a good, solid effort by our entire team," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "Our offense was crisp and we limited opportunities for Holy Cross."
In the opening game, Navy quickly turned a slim 18-17 advantage into a 23-17 lead with kills from Gibbs and Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) and a service, attack and ball-handling error by the Crusaders.
Holy Cross then held the slim lead late in game two. The Crusaders were in front by the score of 22-21 when Dougherty knocked down back-to-back kills to give Navy the advantage. Following a pair of attack errors from Holy Cross, Navy's lead grew to 25-22. It was soon 26-24 when a Dougherty kill sparked a game-ending 4-0 run for the Mids.
After closing game two with the 4-0 run, Navy used an early 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead at the start of game three. From there, Navy held a lead of at least four points over the remainder of the game to complete the sweep.
Navy's offense totaled a .349 hitting percentage, while its defense held Holy Cross to a .089 attack percentage. The Mids also dropped in 10 service aces in the match, while allowing just three aces to Holy Cross servers.
Gibbs knocked down 13 kills and hit .550 on the night to pace all players. Joining her with double-digit kills were Dougherty and Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) with 11 apiece. Sims also added a .435 hitting percentage for the Mids.
Defensively for Navy, Aimee' Burns (Sr., Dallas, Texas) grabbed 13 digs.
Meredith Biri (So., San Antonio, Texas) led Navy's servers with three aces.
"Meredith was an unsung hero today," said Schwob. "She not only came in and served three aces, we seemed to always score whenever she was in the game."
The win improves Navy's record on the year to 11-4, while the Crusaders fell to 3-13 overall and to 0-2 in the league with the loss. Navy has already matched its victory total for all of last season.
Navy will next be in action Sunday when the Mids play at Army in the annual Star Match. The contest can be seen live on ESPNU.
