Nov. 7, 2008

Final Stats

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

EASTON, Pa. -- Lafayette's Katrina Racibarskas, Cara Mulholland and Kayly Elmer combined for 46 kills to help the Lafayette volleyball team record a 23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 32-30 victory over Navy, Friday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Annapolis, Md.

"We allowed one small run in the second and third sets and it dug too deep of a hole for us to overcome," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We did rally from a late deficit in the fourth set and proceeded to give ourselves many, many opportunities to win the set. We gave a lot of those opportunities away with miscues on our side of the net."

Navy (3-8) overcame a 19-15 deficit in the opening set to take a 23-22 lead over Lafayette (5-6). After the Leopards tied the score at 23-23, a Lafayette attack error took the Mids to set point, which they converted on a kill from Aubrey Manes (Jr., Pratt, Kan.).

The second and third sets were very similar in that Lafayette used a 4-0 run midway through each set to open up a cushion over Navy. The runs by the Leopards came with Lafayette holding a 16-14 lead in the second set and a 15-14 advantage in the third set.

Lafayette tried to pull away from Navy in the fourth set, but the Mids overcame a 20-16 deficit to take a 24-21 lead. A ball-handling error wiped out Navy's first chance to send the match to a fifth set, then a Lafayette block and a Navy attack error erased the second and third opportunities for the Mids and tied the score at 24-24. Navy would serve for the set four more times, with its last chance coming at 30-29. The Leopards, meanwhile, served for the set and the match a total of three times and eventually ended the nearly two-hour contest on a Navy attack error.

While Lafayette's trio of Racibarskas (19 kills), Mulholland (17) and Elmer totaled 46 kills, Navy as a team knocked down just 47 kills in the match. Lafayette also held a hitting percentage advantage of .220-.148 over Navy.

Jessie Sims (Sr., Etowah, N.C.) led Navy in both kills and digs with 15 and 12, respectively, with Alexa Gibbs (Sr., Springfield, Ill.) posting 11 kills and libero Holly Berger (Fr., Claremont, Calif.) finishing with 10 digs and six of Navy's 11 service aces.

The Mids stay both on the road and in the Lehigh Valley tonight for a Saturday afternoon match at Lehigh.