Oct. 9, 2009
Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - American posted a hitting percentage of .326 to help the Eagles post a three-set victory over the Navy volleyball team, Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Eagles defeated the Mids by scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-23.
Navy (5-14, 1-4 Patriot League) started slow in both of the opening two sets, falling behind by scores of 9-3 in the first set and 12-4 in the second. The Eagles (9-9, 3-2) were able to main those advantages throughout the remainder of the respective sets.
"We've said it a number of times this year, but you can't start slow and expect to get back into the set," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "American played well in the early part of the sets, but we had a lot of errors on our side of the net that contributed to those deficits."
Navy again fell behind by the score of 9-4 in the third set, but this time Navy was able to rally and tie the score at 18-18. The teams exchanged each of the next six points to make the score 21-21. American took a 22-21 lead on a kill from Ann Recht, then extended its lead to two points on a kill by Magdalena Tekiel. Navy sliced the margin in half when Maida Kalic' (So., Vernon, N.Y.) tallied a kill, then tied the score at 23-23 on a kill from Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.).
American's Cassandra Ricketts tallied a kill to break the tie, then the Eagles closed out the contest when Katerina Cinkova posted a kill on the following point.
While American's offense recorded 40 kills on its way to its impressive hitting percentage, its defense held Navy to 29 kills and an attack percentage of .182. Aside from those two statistics, the remainder of the box score was almost identical for the two teams. American finished with six aces, seven service errors, 28 digs and 4.0 blocks, while Navy accrued five aces, six service errors, 32 digs and 4.0 blocks.
American's Rebecca Heath had a great night going with 11 kills and no errors on 23 swings (.478) before leaving the court due to an injury with American holding a 17-15 lead in the third set. She was the lone player on either team to reach double figures in kills.
Navy's offense was paced by Meghan Carpenter (So., Frederick, Md.) with eight kills, while teammate Holly Berger (So., Claremont, Calif.) hauled in a match-high 11 digs.
After playing just one match this week, Navy will take to the court three times next week. The slate begins Tuesday night when the Mids play at Howard, and continues next weekend with matches Friday at Holy Cross and Saturday, Oct. 17 at Army. The latter match will serve as the Star Match between the two service academy programs.
