Sept. 29, 2009

Final Stats

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Carolyn Ewert (Fr., Bakersfield, Calif.) totaled 11 kills and a .562 attack percentage to help lead the Navy volleyball team to a three-set victory over Coppin State Tuesday night at the Coppin Center in Baltimore. The Midshipmen emerged from the match with a 25-17, 25-19, 28-26 win over the Eagles.

"We had great starts to each of the sets tonight," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "Having starts like that was key for us. We also received contributions from every player who took to the floor. Seeing our depth produce like that was great."

Navy (5-11) couldn't have had a much better start to the match as the Mids jumped out to leads of 7-1, 12-3 and 16-4. The Navy advantage soon grew to 21-9 before the Mids were able to close out the set.

The Mids slowly inched their way out over the Eagles (0-18) in the second set, gradually taking a 7-3 lead before expanding it to 17-8. Coppin State responded by going on a 7-1 run to pull to within 18-15. After the two teams traded points, Abbie Merkl (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Meghan Carpenter (So., Frederick, Md.) knocked down back-to-back kills for Navy to boost its lead to 21-16. A Coppin State kill gave the Eagles a point and the serve, but Maida Kalic' (So., Vernon, N.Y.) recorded a kill and Carpenter dropped in a service ace to give Navy a 23-17 lead. The teams exchanged the ensuing four points to give the Mids a 2-0 lead in sets.

Navy again had a strong start to the third set and took an 11-5 lead. The Eagles rallied, however, and were able to tie the score at 14-14. The Mids scored the next three points, but Coppin State slowly chipped away at the deficit to tie the score at 19-19 before taking a 20-19 lead on a Navy attack error.

The score would be tied at 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22 before Ewert knocked down a kill to give Navy a 23-22 advantage. The lead was short lived, however, as a kill by Yolanda Reid and an ace from Ashley Saunders gave Coppin State a 24-23 lead. Saunders stepped to the service line again after a Navy timeout and this time committed a service error to tie the score at 24-24. The Eagles had another set-point opportunity at 25-24 when Kanishia Sheppard posted a kill, but another kill by Ewert tied the set up at 25-25. Navy then had its first match-point opportunity at 26-25 following a kill by Carpenter, but it was erased when Ewert committed a service error. A ball-handling error on Coppin State's Christina Epps gave the Mids a 27-26 lead, then a kill by Carpenter ended the match.

"We made some big plays down the stretch," said Schwob. "That's two matches in a row in which our team has shown a great deal of maturity at key moments of the match."

Navy posted a .304 attack percentage on the night and held Coppin State to a mark of .250. The Mids also dropped in seven service aces in the match, four by Carpenter alone, while the Eagles tallied four aces as a team. Defensively, Navy hauled in 35 digs and tallied 3.0 blocks, while Coppin State totaled 26 digs and 6.0 team blocks.

In addition to Ewert's 11 kills, Carpenter knocked down 10 kills and hit .217 in the match. Additionally for the Navy offense, Krista Eschelman (Sr., Germantown, Md.) totaled eight kills and hit .462, Merkl tallied seven kills and hit .294, and Kalic' posted six kills. Pacing the Navy defense was Holly Berger (So., Claremont, Calif.) with nine digs while Ewert hauled in seven digs.

Saunders led Coppin State with nine kills.

Navy will resume its Patriot League season this weekend with home matches Friday against Colgate (7 p.m.) and Saturday against Bucknell (12 Noon).