Sept. 17, 2010

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Slow starts to sets caught up to the Navy volleyball team in the final frame as the Mids dropped a 23-25, 28-26, 25-12, 23-25, 15-9 decision to Hartford Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The score in the individual sets was tied a collective 37 times in the over two-hour match, which also featured 16 lead changes.

The match concluded play on the first day of the Kristen Dickmann Memorial Tournament. The tournament will continue Saturday with four matches starting at 10 a.m.

"It seemed as if we were playing uphill the entire night," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "That is hard to do in a normal set, but extremely difficult in the shortened fifth set. We have to be able to start sets better."

The Mids (4-8) fell behind early in the first set to the Hawks (4-9) by the score of 5-2, but managed to tie the frame at 9-9. The latter stages of the set saw Hartford take a 20-17 lead, a deficit Navy was able to erase with a run of three-straight points. The score would soon be tied at 23-23 when a kill by Erin Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) gave the Mids a 24-23 lead. Navy was able to convert its first set point opportunity when Nicole Salmon (Fr., Aurora, Ill.) posted a kill of her own.

The second set was similar to the first in that Hartford took a slim lead late in the set, which the Mids were again able to overcome. The Hawks built a 23-20 advantage when Ndidi Ibe (So., North Richland Hills, Texas) tallied back-to-back kills to pull Navy to within one point, then a service ace by Lauren Carpenter (Jr., Murphy, Texas) tied the score at 23-23. After a kill by Dionna Kirton gave Hartford a one-point lead, back-to-back attack errors by the Hawks gave the Mids a 25-24 advantage. Hartford's Michelle Cordell recorded a kill to tie the score, but she promptly committed a service error to give the Mids a second chance to serve for the set. That chance was erased when Kami Nethersole posted a kill for Hartford to tie the score at 26-26. She would also tally a kill on the next play to give Hartford the one-point lead, then a kill from Sydney Scott gave the Hawks the second set.

"We let a great chance slip away from us in the second set," said Schwob. "But it was more of Hartford making the plays down the stretch than us not making plays, so you have to give them (Hartford) credit."

The Hawks quickly took command of the third set by scoring five of the first six points of the frame and to build a 16-4 advantage on their way to taking a 2-1 lead in sets.

The fourth set was close the entire time and included 13 ties and six lead changes. Navy built a short-lived cushion late in the set by taking a 22-19 lead, but Hartford scored the next three points to knot the score again. Salmon broke the tie with a kill, then Ibe posted another kill to give the Mids a 24-22 advantage. Kirton knocked down a kill of her own to slice the deficit in half, but Carpenter ended the set with a kill to send the match into a fifth set.

Hartford tallied four of the first five points of the final set and soon held an 8-2 advantage when the teams switched sides. The Mids sliced into that margin by scoring the ensuing three points, but the Hawks went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-6 advantage that put the match away.

Hartford as a team tallied 73 kills and hit .290 in the match, while Navy finished with 52 kills and a .192 attack percentage. The Mids held slight advantages over the Hawks in aces (6-2) and blocks (11-8).

This season began with a five-year span since the last time a Navy player had recorded a triple-double in a match. Tonight, Fortner tallied her second of the young season with 15 kills, 14 assists and 10 digs. Joining her in double-digit kills for the Mids was Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.) with 11 kills. Defensively for Navy, Ibe recorded six blocks, Kalic' and Kaitlin Roseti (Jr., Williamsville, N.Y.) both notched four blocks and Holly Berger (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) hauled in 10 digs.

Nethersole led all players in the match with 28 kills (and just five errors) on 49 swings for an attack percentage of .469. Cordell also had a strong night for the Hawks with 15 kills and a .609 hitting percentage.

Navy will play host to Howard Saturday at 12 Noon before taking on UMES at 4 p.m.