Nov. 13, 2010
Final Stats
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Navy volleyball season came to a close with a four-set loss to Lehigh Saturday afternoon in Bethlehem, Pa. The Mountain Hawks posted a 25-19, 16-25, 25-20, 25-15 victory over the Midshipmen.
"Our middles were effective on offense when we were successful in getting them the ball," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "However, we didn't pass the ball well enough to run the middle option as much as we wanted to. As a result we had to rely on our outside hitters more and we were unable to get a rhythm going out there."
Lehigh (13-13, 7-7 Patriot League) hit .282 in the match and held Navy (7-23, 1-13 Patriot League) to an attack percentage of .167. The Mids did lead the Mountain Hawks in both aces (9-7) and blocks (7.0-4.0), but Lehigh knocked down 54 kills to Navy's 41 and held a slim 50-45 lead in digs.
Navy middle blockers Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.) and Ndidi Ibe (So., North Richland Hills, Texas) both tallied eight kills in the match. Kalic would lead all attackers with a hitting percentage of .438, while Ibe hit a healthy .385 for the Mids. Joining the duo with eight kills was outside hitter and setter Erin Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.), who hit .350 while adding 15 assists, 12 digs and a pair of aces. Ibe and Lauren Carpenter (Jr., Murphy, Texas) both tallied four blocks in the match, with Holly Berger (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) contributing 11 digs.
Playing her final match in a Navy uniform was setter Jenny Rudewicz (Sr., Winter Garden, Fla.). She dished out 17 digs and added a pair of aces in the match. The lone senior on the Navy team, Rudewicz ends her career having dished out 1,653 assists over her four years, a tally that ranks third among Mids during the decade-long rally scoring era.
Fortner tallied 253 kills this season to become the first freshman since Ashley Van Hartesvelt in 2001 to lead Navy in kills, and hauled in 214 digs to join Jessie Sims (2005) as the lone Mids during the rally scoring era to tally over 200 kills and 200 digs as freshmen. Additionally, her assist total of 438 is the most for a Navy freshman in over a decade.
