Aug. 28, 2010

Final Stats

NORFOLK, Va. -- The Navy volleyball concluded play at the Spartan Classic in Norfolk, Va., Saturday by splitting a pair of matches. The Mids first dropped a 25-13, 25-19, 25-21 decision to Kent State before defeating Providence by scores of 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 25-16.

"I think we were the most improved team of the tournament," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We got better in each of our matches in different areas, and then were able to put things together against Providence."

Navy's opening match of the day saw the Mids fall in three sets to the Golden Flash. Kent State (2-1) slowly opened up a sizeable lead in the first set, turning a slim 6-4 lead into a comfortable 14-6 advantage. The second set was much tighter through the majority of the frame. The Golden Flash held a 15-14 lead before going on a 5-0 run to pull out to a 20-14 cushion that would propel them into taking a 2-0 lead in sets.

Navy fell behind by the score of 12-6 early in the third set, but the Mids fought back to tie the score at 16-16. The teams traded the ensuing pair of points before Kent State went on a 3-0 run to open up a 20-17 lead. Back-to-back points by the Mids made it a one-point game, but the Golden Flash ran off the next four points to take an insurmountable 24-19 advantage.

Navy's offense struggled a bit through its first two matches of the Spartan Classic, totaling an attack percentage of below .100 in five of its six sets against UNC Greensboro and Norfolk State. The Mids were again slow to get going early in today's match against Kent State as Navy totaled 18 kills over that time and hit below .100 in both sets one and two. But things started to fall into place in the third set as Navy tallied 15 kills with a hitting percentage of .225 in what would prove to be the final set of play.

For the match, Kent State still held advantages over Navy in attack percentage, .326-.139; kills, 39-33; and aces, 10-2.

Navy's Nicole Salmon (Fr., Aurora, Ill.) played in only the last two sets, but she led all players in the match with nine kills while adding an attack percentage of .412. Also having a strong offensive game for the Mids was Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.), who totaled eight kills with a hitting percentage of .333, and Lauren Carpenter (Jr., Murphy, Texas), who finished with seven kills. Defensively for the Mids, Holly Berger (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) posted a match-high 11 digs with Lauren Carpenter (Jr., Murphy, Texas) grabbing seven additional digs for Navy.

Meredith Paskert and Liva Brivule both tallied eight kills and three blocks for Kent State.

The Mids played the tournament's final match on Friday -- a 7 p.m. start against tournament-host Norfolk State -- then their match against Kent State was the very first one to be played Saturday (10 a.m. start). After finishing their match against the Golden Flash, the Mids returned to the court to face Providence at 2 p.m. Meanwhile, the Friars had been off the court for nearly 24 hours and having not played a match since the end of their match against Norfolk State that started at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Perhaps that helped the Mids as Navy's (1-3) offensive outburst in the third set against Kent State carried over into the first set of its match against Providence (0-3). The Mids outhit the Friars by a .229-.053 margin in winning the opening set. Navy first used a 7-2 run -- with three-straight points in this span coming by way of kills by Salmon -- to take a 12-9 lead in the set, then went on a 9-2 run to build a 22-14 lead.

The Mids cooled down somewhat in the second set, hitting just .083, but their defense held the Friars to an attack percentage of .000. The set featured a number of early tie scores before Providence slowly built a 21-18 advantage. Navy quickly turned the set around with a run of five-straight points that included a trio of Providence attack errors, a service ace from team captain and lone Navy senior Jenny Rudewicz (Winter Garden, Fla.) and a kill from Kalic' off of a set from Rudewicz. After the teams traded points to make the score 24-22, Rudewicz fed Kalic' for the set-winning kill.

Navy stormed out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the third set, but Providence promptly went in a 10-2 run to take a 10-7 lead over the Mids. The Friars soon held a 13-12 lead before going on a 6-0 run to take a 19-13 advantage. Providence held that cushion over the remainder of the set to extend the match.

Navy again jumped out quickly on Providence, this time by scoring the first six points of the fourth set. Unlike the third set, however, the Mids never let the Friars dig too far into the Navy lead. The closest Providence would get to the Mids was three points and that came at 9-6.

Even in the third set that the Mids lost, their offense played pretty well. Navy hit .174 in the set before going on to hit a weekend-best .359 in winning the fourth set. For the match, Navy held a .212-.128 advantage over Providence in attack percentage, which was helped by the Mids tallying 75 digs and 7.0 team blocks.

Leading all players in kills in the match was Providence's Lauren Fletcher, who knocked down 22 kills -- while hitting .378 -- to account for more than half of her team's total (41). No other Friar recorded more than six kills in the match.

On the other side of the net, a trio of Mids posted double-digit kills in the match. Pacing the Navy attack was Kalic', who was named to the all-tournament team after her 13-kill performance Saturday afternoon. She also hit .400 while adding seven digs and four blocks. The other two Mids with 10+ kills were a pair of freshmen in Salmon and Erin Fortner (Villa Hills, Ky.). Salmon finished with 10 kills, while Fortner, who did not play in the Saturday morning match against the Golden Flash, tallied a triple-double against Providence with 11 kills, 16 assists and 15 digs (plus three blocks).

Rudewicz added a double-double in the match with 24 assists and 10 digs, while Berger and Providence's Cassie Muzzonigro hauled in 18 digs for their respective teams.

"We were limited during training camp due to the fact that we were always missing a couple of players due to injuries," said Schwob. "We only had the full team together for three practices all of camp, and we still played this weekend with two players back in Annapolis. So it took us some time this weekend to find a rhythm and rotation on both offense and defense, but we were stronger each time we took to the court this weekend. A great example of that was the fourth set against Providence. We had started very strong in the third set before letting the lead slip away from us. But we bounced right back at the start of the fourth set, opened up a bigger lead than we previously had in the third set, and never let them back in the set. That's a great learning experience.

"I am very pleased with how we were able to end the tournament. We were able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us, both within individual points and on the scoreboard."

Navy will next be in action September 3-4 when the Mids will play a trio of matches at the Buffalo Invitational.