Oct. 3, 2008

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Alexa Gibbs and Jessie Sims combined for 18 kills and a .615 attack percentage in sets three and four to help lead the Navy volleyball team to a four-set victory over Lehigh, Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The 25-22, 23-25, 25-11, 25-22 victory was the first of the Patriot League season for the Mids (11-5, 1-2) and was the 200th of head coach Mike Schwob's career.

"We picked up our first win in the league this year; that's all I care about," said Schwob who is in his 13th season as the head coach of the Navy women's volleyball team.

The two teams traded late-set heroics to split the opening two sets. The first set was tied eight times between 12-12 and 21-21, then Gibbs (Sr., Springfield, Ill.) dropped in a service ace to give the Mids a one-point advantage. The Navy lead went up to two points on a block by Sims (Sr., Etowah, N.C.) and Krista Eschelman (Jr., Germantown, Md.), but it returned to one point when Lehigh's Mo Reynolds tallied a kill. Eschelman put down a kill of her own on the ensuing play to take Navy to set point at 24-22, which it converted on when Eschelman and Abbie Merkl (Jr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) teamed up for another block.

Navy held a slim 23-22 lead late in set number two, but three straight kills from Angelika Kopacz allowed Lehigh to rally for the win to even the match at one set apiece.

The Mids came out of the locker room after the break on fire, tallying eight of the first nine points of the third set before building a double-digit lead at 19-8 and eventually posting the 25-11 victory.

The fourth set was similar to the opening two frames of the match in that neither team was able to pull away from the other. The lead changed hands several times through the opening part of the set before Lehigh took a 17-15 advantage. A kill from Gibbs sliced the deficit in half, then Merkl dropped in a pair of service aces and Gibbs knocked down two more kills to give Navy a 20-17 lead. The Navy lead would soon be 22-20 when Sims tallied a kill to give the Mids a three-point advantage. Navy would pull to within one point of winning the match when Eschelman and Marissa Watson (Sr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) combined for a block, but Lehigh staved off a pair of points when Gibbs committed a service error and Watson was whistled for a ball handling error to make the score 24-22. Watson then fed Sims for a kill to end the contest.

"We had three big keys to the win tonight," said Schwob. "We served really well, our seniors made big plays and the crowd got us going in the third set. You could see us feeding off the excitement from the stands."

After having its hitting struggle a bit in sets one and two (Navy hit .128 during this span), the Mids totaled a .323 attack percentage in sets three and four. Additionally, the Mids held Lehigh to a .069 hitting percentage over the last half of the match and to a .104 percentage in the contest. Navy totaled 6.0 of its 8.0 team blocks in sets three and four, as well as five of its eight service aces. Lehigh would finish the night with 6.0 blocks (just 1.0 in sets three and four combined) and four service aces.

Gibbs and Sims combined for 13 kills and a .179 attack percentage in sets one and two, but knocked down 18 kills against just two errors on 26 swings in sets three and four. Gibbs would tally 16 kills, a .414 attack percentage, two aces and three blocks in the match, with Sims contributing 15 kills, a .306 attack percentage and 10 blocks. Also having a big hand in the win were Merkl, who dropped in six aces and grabbed nine digs, Eschelman, with eight kills and a match-high five blocks and libero Holly Berger (Fr., Claremont, Calif.), with 12 digs. Additionally, Watson dished out 43 assists, hauled in nine digs and totaled a pair of blocks for the Mids.

Lehigh's (5-10, 1-2 Patriot League) offense was led by Reynolds, who posted 15 kills, and Kopacz, with 13 kills. The duo knocked down 18 of its combined 28 kills in sets one and two, however. Defensively, libero Emma Melendez was all over the floor for the Mountain Hawks and snagged 22 digs in the contest.

"This was a solid win for us," said Schwob. "Now we need to come ready to play Saturday with the some fire in our eyes that we had tonight."

Navy will be back in the Wesley A. Brown Field House Saturday afternoon when the Mids play host to Lafayette in a 4 p.m. match. The team will be holding an autograph session for all fans immediately after its conclusion..