Nov. 7, 2009
Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A total of 24 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .034 cost the Navy volleyball team in a three-set loss to Holy Cross, Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Crusaders picked up their second win of the year over the Mids with the 25-16, 25-19, 25-11 decision.
"We just couldn't make the plays we have made all year," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "It was one of our poorer matches of the year in terms of the amount of unforced errors we committed. We didn't pass the ball well, placed ourselves out of position on defense, and couldn't put the ball over the net when we had great opportunities to do so on offense. Plays we normally make, we didn't today. We were a step behind what Holy Cross was doing the entire match."
The Crusaders (3-9 Patriot League) quickly jumped on the Mids (2-10 Patriot League) at the start of the match by scoring five of the first six points of the opening set. Navy closed to within three points at 8-5 and it was still a three-point margin at 14-11. The Crusaders then slowly built a 20-14 advantage before scoring the last four points of the set to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set was tied at 15-15 when the Crusaders went on a 4-0 run to take a 19-15 lead, which was enough of a cushion for them to win the second set.
Holy Cross broke open the third set early as a 7-0 run gave it a 10-3 lead. The closest Navy could narrow the score to was four points at 13-9.
"We were playing uphill the entire match because of the early aggressiveness that Holy Cross showed," said Schwob.
Navy totaled 27 kills in the match to go along with its 24 attack errors. Only five of those attack errors were the result of Holy Cross blocks. The Crusaders, on the other hand, tallied 33 kills and just nine attack errors in posting a hitting percentage of .353.
Meghan Carpenter (So., Frederick, Md.) and Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) both tallied seven kills to lead the Navy offense on the afternoon. Megan Lynch posted 15 kills to lead Holy Cross.
Navy will close its season next weekend with matches Friday at Bucknell and Saturday at Colgate.
