Sept. 19, 2009
ELON, N.C. -- The Navy volleyball team picked up its first victory at the Elon Volleyball Classic Saturday morning by posting a four-set victory over Norfolk State. The Mids won the nearly two-hour match by the scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.
Navy will close play in the Classic tonight at 7 p.m. against the tournament-host Phoenix. Elon, 11-0 on the year, will play Georgia State (9-3) later this afternoon before taking on the Mids.
"This was a good win for us," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We played well last night against Georgia State but couldn't come away with the win. We continued playing well today and had something to show for our effort.
"This also was a great training for the start of the Patriot League season. We beat Norfolk State one week ago, so this was similar to how the round robin format in league play works. You have to be able to adjust to different things opponents throw at you rom one match to the next. What may work one time out may not work in the next match you play them in. We saw some different strategies from Norfolk State today than we did last week but we adjusted well to them."
Navy (3-9) raced out to a 6-0 lead at the start of the match and expanded its advantage to as many as eight points at 13-5. Norfolk State (2-10) would close to as few as two points at both 18-16 and 19-17 before a 3-0 Navy run boosted the Mids to a 22-17 lead. The Mids soon reached set point at 24-18, but a quick 4-0 run by the Spartans closed the margin down to two points at 24-22. Finally, an Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) kill closed out the set for the Mids.
The second set saw both teams give up sizeable advantages to the other. Norfolk State jumped in front 8-4 at the start of the set until Navy tied the score at 11-11. It would still be tied at 18-18 when a kill by Maida Kalic' (So., Vernon, N.Y.) and an attack error by Norfolk State gave Navy a 20-18 lead. The margin soon grew to three points on a kill by Holly Berger (So., Claremont, Calif.), and it remained at three points at 23-20. However, the Mids were held scoreless over the last five serves of the set to allow the Spartans to win the set and even the match with a 25-23 victory.
"We came out of the break very strong in both sets three and four," said Schwob. "Losing the second set as we did was disappointing, but we got right back after it as soon as we returned to the court."
The third set was close throughout the early part of the frame, with the score being tied several times up until 9-9. Navy then went on a 6-1 run to build a 15-10 lead and was able to maintain a cushion of three points up until Norfolk State closed to within 22-20. A kill by Meghan Carpenter (So., Frederick, Md.) and a block by Kalic' soon allowed Navy to reach set point at 24-20. The Spartans tallied back-to-back points to slice the margin in half, but a service error by Aurelia Isham gave the Mids their 25th and set-clinching point.
The score was tied at 3-3 very early in the fourth set when the Mids went on a quick 3-0 run. Navy was able to maintain a lead of between one and three points up until a block by the tandem of Merkl and Kalic' gave the Mids a 17-13 advantage. After Norfolk State tallied back-to-back points, Navy answered with two consecutive points of its own to make the score 19-15. From there, the teams played pretty much sideout volleyball to allow the Mids to close out both the set and the match.
Though Navy recorded just three more kills than Norfolk State did, the Mids finished with a hitting percentage of .276 while limiting the Spartans to a mark of .201. The Mids also hauled in 48 digs in the match to 38 for the Spartans.
Carpenter knocked down a career-high 16 kills -- and hit .350 -- to lead all players in the match. Joining her in reaching double figures kills for Navy was Carolyn Ewert (Fr. Bakersfield, Calif.), who recorded 13. Merkl, meanwhile, just missed double digits as she finished with nine kills to go along with four blocks. Navy's middle blocker tandem of Kalic' and Krista Eschelman (Sr., Germantown, Md.) enjoyed their most productive match of the season. Each player recorded six kills and four blocks and the duo combined for a .500 attack percentage. Additionally, Jenny Rudewicz (Jr., Winter Garden, Fla.) notched her second double-double in as many matches with 40 assists and a Navy-best 10 digs.
Ellica Morris recorded 12 kills for Norfolk State, while her teammates Charlotte Armstead and Elayne Greer each tallied 10 kills. Both Greer and Isham also posted seven blocks in the match.
