Sept. 26, 2008

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Bucknell's defense held Navy to a hitting percentage of .175 in posting a three-set sweep over the Midshipmen, Friday night in the Wesley A. Brown Field House. The Bison recorded a 25-15, 26-24, 25-21 win over the Mids in what was the opening match of the Patriot League volleyball season for both programs.

"I was disappointed in how we started the match tonight," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We allowed Bucknell to build an early lead, and then we seemed to be fighting uphill over the remainder of the match. You can't do that against a league opponent."

The Bison (5-9, 1-0 Patriot League) scored three of the first four points of the opening set before jumping out to a 13-7 advantage over the Mids (9-4, 0-1 Patriot League). Navy would be able to close to within four points at 15-11, but the Bison ran off the next three points to firmly take control of the set.

Bucknell posted a hitting percentage of .276 in the opening set while holding Navy to a negative .033 percentage.

Set number two was a see-saw contest, with Bucknell holding a number of three-point leads and Navy always able to knot the score again. The Bison took a 21-18 lead late in the set before Navy rallied to take a 22-21 lead, with Abbie Merkl (Jr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) figuring prominently in each of Navy's four consecutive points. She first teamed with Alexa Gibbs (Sr., Springfield, Ill.) for a block, then stepped to the service line. Gibbs and Marissa Watson (Sr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) combined for a block following Merkl's initial serve, then Merkl dropped in an ace to tie the score at 21-21. Navy would take the lead when Merkl set Watson for an attack at the net that turned into a kill.

The two teams played sideout volleyball over the next five points, a run that culminated in a kill by Gibbs that took the Mids to set point at 24-23. Bucknell's Kyleigh McAhern erased the Navy opportunity on a kill, then a Bucknell block on Jessie Sims (Sr., Etowah, N.C.) gave the Bison a 25-24 lead. A kill by Heidi Kamp following a Navy overpasss gave the Bison the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Navy hit the ball much better in the second set, compiling 16 kills and a .282 attack percentage to Bucknell's 15 kills and .209 hitting percentage.

The Mids had a strong start to set number three and jumped out to an 11-6 lead. The Bison would answer back, however, and soon tied the set at 12-12. The score would be tied five more times in the set, with what would prove to be the last tie coming at 19-19 following a Bucknell kill by Kamp. The Bison would run off the next three points to take a 22-19 lead, with the teams trading points over the remainder of the set until the Bison closed out the 90-minute contest with a 25-21 win.

"Bucknell scored points on a lot of broken plays tonight," said Schwob. "We didn't consistently match the effort they put forth in order to make something happen out of nothing."

While the Bison defense held the Mids to their .175 attack percentage on the night, the Bucknell offense hit .222 in the match. Navy entered tonight ranked second in the country in service aces per set, but the Mids tallied only three service aces to Bucknell's six, a deficit made more important by when comparing Navy's six service errors to the three serving miscues by the Bison.

Bucknell's Kaitlin Segal led all players on the night with 16 kills, while Gibbs dropped in 14 kills -- and hit .423 -- to lead Navy. Defensively, the two liberos in the match -- Holly Berger (Fr., Claremont, Calif.) for Navy and Sheena Czipri for Bucknell - both grabbed nine digs to pace their respective teams.

Sims contributed 10 kills and seven digs tonight, with her defensive effort giving her 1,273 digs for her career. That tally breaks the nine-year school record of 1,270 digs set by Rachel Shropa (1996-99). One of just three players in Navy history to post 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career, Sims also ranks fifth in the school record book with 1,080 career kills.

"It's a great accomplishment for Jessie," said Schwob. "But I know she is going to be thinking about the loss for a lot longer tonight than she is the record."

Navy's opening weekend of league play will continue Saturday when the Midshipmen play host to Colgate in a 4 p.m. match in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.