DOVER, Del. -- The Navy volleyball team closed play at the DSU Hornet by dropping a four-set decision to the tournament-host Hornets Saturday afternoon in Dover, Del. Delaware State (5-5), which went undefeated in four matches at the tournament, posted a 25-22, 20-25, 25-17, 27-25 victory over the Mids (2-8).
"We feel much better about things than we did Friday," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "This afternoon's match against Delaware State could have easily gone our way. We fought hard on every point today and started to see the progress we have been looking for. We are already excited about our matches next weekend at Elon."
Delaware State quickly took control of the first set by scoring five of the first six points before going on to open up a 21-10 advantage.
Navy answered back with a much-improved start to set number two. The Mids took an early 6-2 lead before opening up its advantage to as many as seven points at 16-9. The Hornets closed to as few as three points at both 17-14 and 18-15, but back-to-back kills from Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and a Delaware State attack error boost the Navy lead back to a more comfortable 20-15. From there, the teams played pretty much sideout volleyball to allow the Mids to even the match at one set apiece.
The early part of the third set was close with the teams exchanging slim leads of one or two ponts several times. Delaware State held a 13-12 advantage over Navy when the Hornets broke open the set with a 5-0 run to give themselves an 18-12 cushion which proved to be too much for Navy to overcome.
Delaware State tried to run away from Navy at the start of the fourth set. The Hornets quickly took leads of 6-2 and 11-6 before Navy stormed back to tie the frame at 12-12. After the teams exchanged points to make the score 13-13, Delaware State scored the next four points to build a 17-13 lead. Navy slowly chipped away at the deficit and tied the set at 19-19. Three consecutive points by Delaware State made the score 22-19, but Navy answered back yet again with a 4-0 run of their own to take a 23-22 advantage on a kill from Maida Kalic' (So., Vernon, N.Y.).
Kalic' would commit an attack error on the next play, however, to allow Delaware State to tie the score at 23-23. The Hornets took a 24-23 lead when Sarah Wheatcraft knocked down a kill, but a service error by teammate Sonia Banicevic tied the score again at 24-24. First Navy's Aubrey Manes (Sr., Pratt, Kan.) and then Delaware State's Cassandra Joyner committed attack errors to make the score 25-25, then a kill by Erica Tajchman gave Delaware State its third opportunity to serve for the match at 26-25. This time the Hornets would convert on the opportunity when Ashley Herman recorded a kill.
Delaware State held statistical advantages over Navy in attack percentage (.286-.180), digs (46-39) and blocks (9.0-4.0). Merkl led Navy with 14 kills against Delaware State, while Meghan Carpenter (So., Frederick, Md.) added 10 kills. Four different Mids tallied five or more digs in the match, with Lauren Carpenter (So., Murphy, Texas) leading the team with eight. Lauren Carpenter also dropped in a match-high five service aces on the afternoon.
Delaware State saw four of its players finish with double figure kills, with Joyner pacing all players in the match with 15.
Navy will next be in action this coming weekend when the Mids take part in the Elon Volleyball Classic Friday and Saturday in Elon, N.C.
