Sept. 18, 2009

Final Stats

ELON, N.C. -- Small spurts in the middle of the third and fourth sets allowed the Georgia State volleyball team to post a four-set victory over Navy, Friday evening at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C. The Panthers improved to 9-3 on the year with the 27-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18 victory over the 2-9 Mids in the opening match of the Elon Volleyball Classic.

"We're disappointed with the outcome," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We went toe-to-toe with a very good team tonight. We had two small stretches of inconsistent play in the middle of the last two sets and they both cost us. You can't be battling uphill against a team as talented as we faced today."

Navy battled back from a 15-10 deficit in the first set to tie the score at 15-15. Georgia State soon turned an 18-17 lead into a 21-17 advantage with a quick 3-0 run. Navy closed to within one point at 21-20 before eventually tying the score at 23-23. After kill by Navy's Carolyn Ewert (Fr., Bakersfield, Calif.) gave Navy a 24-23 lead, the Mids had a swing to win the set on the next point before a bad set by Navy gave the Panthers their 24th point of the set. Georgia State tallied a service ace to take a 25-24 lead, but an Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) block tied the set for the sixth time. The Panthers regained the lead when Navy's Krista Eschelman (Sr., Germantown, Md.) committed an attack error, then Merkl was blocked on the ensuing point to end the set.

The Mids didn't let the frustrations of losing the first set get to them, though, as Navy bounced out to a 12-8 lead early in the second set. The Panthers chipped away at the margin and pulled to within one point at 19-18, but Navy ran off the next four points to take a 23-18 advantage. After a pair of Georgia State points made the score 23-20, a kill by Maida Kalic' (So., Vernon, N.Y.) and an attack error by the Panthers led to the Mids evening the match at one set apiece.

Set number three was close throughout the early going. The score was tied at 14-14 when a Navy attack error sparked a 6-0 run by the Panthers. The Mids winnowed the deficit down to three points at 21-18, but that would be as close the Navy would get in the set.

The fourth set was very similar to the third. In this frame, Georgia State went on a 5-0 run to build a 16-11 lead over Navy. The Panthers were able to maintain at least a four-point advantage over the Mids over the remainder of the set to win the nearly two-hour match.

"It was a tough match," said Schwob. "Both teams were battling each other on every point. While this would have been a great match for us to win, we can take a lot of good things out of it. We just have to keep getting better each time out, and that starts Saturday morning."

Georgia State took only two more swings in the match than Navy did, but the Panthers finished with 12 more kills than the Mids and held a .270-.145 advantage in hitting percentage. Much of that disparity was the result of the fourth set when the Panthers hit .556 and limited the Mids to a mark of .231. The hitting was the only significant difference between the teams in the match.

Ewert paced the Mids with 13 kills and .281 attack percentage, with Merkl adding 10 kills, a .231 hitting percentage and three blocks. Navy setter Jenny Rudewicz (Jr., Winter Garden, Fla.) finished the afternoon with a double-double of 33 assists and 13 digs.

Georgia State saw three of its players finish the match with double-digit kills. Leading the Panthers and all players in the match was Ashley Jones with 15 kills.

Navy will continue play in the Elon Volleyball Classic with matches Saturday against Norfolk State (10 a.m.) and tournament-host Elon (7 p.m.).