Oct. 2, 2010

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Army posted a hitting percentage of .260 and held the Navy volleyball team to a mark of .096 on its way to defeating the Mids in three sets Saturday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Black Knights won the three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-22.

"The difference tonight was Army doing a much better job of passing the ball than we did," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "They passed really well and we struggled to give our setters good opportunities to make a strong set. When the pass was good, we were successful with our hitters, but it was too and far between."

The first set was tied at 15-15 when Army (10-9, 3-1 Patriot League) went on a 6-1 run take a 21-16 lead. Navy (5-14, 0-4) was able to narrow the margin to within four points at both 20-16 and 21-17 before the Black Knights closed out the set.

Army scored four of the first five points of the second set and managed to open up a lead of as many as five points at 16-11. Navy slowly chipped away at the deficit and pulled to within one point at 20-19 on a kill from Nicole Salmon (Fr., Aurora, Ill.). Salmon then committed an attack error and Navy setter Jenny Rudewicz (Sr., Winter Garden, Fla.) was whistled for a back-row attack to give two points back to the Black Knights. An Army kill and a bad set by Rudewicz allowed the Black Knights to take a 24-19 lead.

Navy was the team to start the third set with a quick 4-1 run, but Army was able to tie the score at 5-5. The Black Knights proceeded to hold a lead of up to three points before Navy narrowed the deficit down to one point on three occasions. After Navy closed to within 15-14, the Black Knights slowly inched their way out to a five-point lead at 21-16 before the Mids climbed right back into the set by narrowing the margin down to 22-20. Back-to-back Army kills gave the Black Knights a 24-20 lead, which Navy quickly sliced in half. A Navy service error, however, would end the match.

Besides holding the aforementioned advantage in hitting percentage, the Black Knights also knocked down 46 kills to Navy's 29. Otherwise the two teams posted nearly identical statistics in service aces, digs and blocks.

Navy had five players tally either five or six kills in the match, with freshmen or sophomores accounting for 22 of the team's 29 kills on the night. Finishing with six kills apiece were Erin Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) and Ndidi Ibe (So., North Richland Hills, Texas), while the trio of Salmon, Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.) and Veronica Ffrench (Fr., Milton, Fla.) all recorded five kills, respectively.

"The passing and I think the maturity of the two lineups was a factor," said Schwob. "The core of Army's team includes a number of players who were part of its team that won the Patriot League last year, while we are leaning heavily on three freshmen. It is tough to go through growing pains in an Army-Navy match. But as with everything else this year, we learn from tonight and get ready for the next match."

Army's Francine Vasquez totaled 18 kills and hit .382, while teammate Ariana Mankus finished with 14 kills and a .367 attack percentage.

Navy will be back in the Wesley A. Brown Field House Monday night when the Mids play host to North Carolina A&T in a 6 p.m. match.