Sept. 7, 2007

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Krista Eschelman (So., Germantown, Md.) totaled career highs in kills, hitting percentage and blocks to help the Navy volleyball team post a four-game victory over the New Jersey Institute of Technology Friday night in Macdonough Hall. The Midshipmen recorded a 26-30, 30-27, 30-24, 30-28 victory over the Highlanders to close day one of the Trident Classic.

"We started slow tonight, due in large part to NJIT, but we were able to clean things up starting in game two," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "As the match went on a number of people really stepped up at big points in the match. I thought Krista had perhaps the match of her career, so far, and our bench really performed well when called upon. Lizzie Grider (Sr., Marion, Ind.) was one person who was very steady for us during the points she played."

Navy struggled out of the gate in game one, allowing NJIT to go on an early 8-1 run and take a 13-7 lead. The Mids would pull to within three points on four different occasions over the remainder of the game, but the Highlanders held off every Navy rally to post the win.

Navy totaled 16 kills in the opening game to 11 for NJIT, but the Mids tallied 11 attack errors to just four for the Highlanders.

The Highlanders went on another sizeable run early in the second game to turn an 11-8 deficit into a 13-11 lead. The Mids again trailed by a pair of points at 15-13 when Navy went on its best run of the match to take an 18-15 advantage. Soon, however, the Highlanders were able to knot the score again at 20-20.

Navy found itself trailing by a score of 23-22, when a Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) kill tied the game at 23 points apiece. Back-to-back ball handling errors and an attack error by NJIT proceeded to give Navy some breathing room at 26-23. After the Navy lead shrank to 26-25, Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) knocked down a kill to give the Mids a 27-25 advantage. Following a service error by Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) that sliced the Navy lead in half, Dougherty recorded another kill to boost the lead up to to 28-26. A kill by NJIT's Agnieszka Pregowska made the score 28-27, but she followed her kill with a service error to allow the Mids to serve for the game. Dougherty stepped to the service line and dropped in an ace to tally the victory for Navy.

The Highlanders quickly jumped in front of the Mids at the start of game three by a score of 5-1, but Navy eventually tied the game at 9-9. The score would be tied four more times, including at 15-15, when a Dougherty kill gave a Navy a 16-15 advantage. That kill began a 4-0 run for Navy as the Mids took a 19-15 lead.

Navy still held a two-point advantage at 26-24, but then Eschelman proceeded to make her presence felt in much the same way Dougherty did at the end of game two. She knocked down back-to-back kills to give Navy a 28-24 lead then, following a kill from teammate Marissa Watson (Jr., Redondo Beach, Calif.), Eschelman ended the game with another kill of her own.

In all, Eschelman totaled six kills and no errors on nine swings in game three.

Navy never trailed in game four, but never held any kind of comfortable lead, either. The Mids thought they had build some breathing room by taking a 25-20 advantage, but four-straight points by NJIT sliced their lead down to just one point. The margin would also be one point at 26-25 and 28-27 when an NJIT attack error allowed Navy to serve for the match at 29-27. A kill from Katrina Hornstein made the score 29-28, but Sims knocked down a kill to end the two-hour contest.

After being outhit in the opening game .179-.096, the Mids posted a .241 hitting percentage over the remaining three games while NJIT hit .210 over the same span. Navy's block also started working after game one, with nine of the team's 11 blocks coming over the final three games. Additionally, Navy totaled 13 service aces (against 15 service errors) on the night, with the Highlanders tallying a pair of aces and five service errors in the match.

Dougherty paced the Navy offense with 19 kills and Sims posted 13 kills, while both Gibbs and Eschelman tallied 11 kills on the night. Eschelman's added a .391 attack percentage and match-high six blocks.

While four Mids reached double figures in kills, a trio of players hauled in 10 or more digs on the night. Leading the Navy passers was Aimee' Burns (Sr., Dallas, Texas) with 16 digs.

NJIT was led offensively by Kristy Haeckel's 14 kills, while Sabrina Baby grabbed 27 digs and Kubra Tanrikulu totaled 21 digs.

Four matches are slated for Saturday at the Trident Classic, with the Mids (5-1) taking on Marist (4-5) at 1 p.m. and Central Connecticut State (6-2) at 6 p.m. The remaining two matches feature NJIT (0-8) facing CCSU at 11 a.m. and then Marist at 4 p.m. CCSU posted a 3-0 sweep of Marist in Friday's Trident Classic opening match.