Sept. 18, 2010
Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team closed out play at the Kristen Dickmann Memorial Tournament by losing a four-set match to Howard and a five-set match to UMES Saturday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Mids lost to the Lady Bison by scores of 25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, and to the Hawks by scores of 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 20-25, 15-7.
"We had breakdowns at key moments in our matches today," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "We have to play more consistent and cleaner volleyball late in sets. We did not do that today and it cost us in both of our matches. We were only a few points away from winning all three of our matches this weekend (Navy lost in five sets to Hartford Friday night) in straight sets. Those breakdowns were the fine line between us winning and losing each of our matches. We can't afford to take a point off."
Not much separated the Mids and the Bison at any point in the match. The score was tied 42 times and the lead exchanged hands on 25 occasions. The match started with Navy having a great opportunity to win the first set. The Mids were serving with a 22-19 lead before the Bison rattled off six consecutive points to win the set by the score of 25-22. A Navy attack error followed by a pair of kills from Tosin Elebute allowed Howard to tie the score, then Elebute knocked down another kill to give Howard a 23-22 lead. Keri Partridge and Jasmine King teamed up on a block to take Howard to set point, which it converted on another kill by Elebute.
The second set was tied at 21-21 when Gabrielle Martin recorded a kill for Howard that was followed by a Navy attack error. Navy sliced the deficit in half (23-22) when Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.) tallied a kill. An Elebute kill made the score 24-22, but the Mids staved off set point when Nicole Salmon (Fr., Aurora, Ill.) posted a kill for the Mids. Elebute tallied yet another kill to end the set and give Howard a 2-0 lead.
The third set was tied for pretty much the entire set, including at 23-23. At that point Erin Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) posted a kill for the Mids, which was followed by a poor pass from the Navy offense that tied the set again. Elebute committed an attack error to give Navy its second opportunity to win the set, which it did when King was whistled for a ball-handling error.
Howard held a slim 18-17 lead in the fourth set when the Bison recorded back-to-back points to take a three-point advantage. A Fortner kill pulled the Mids to within 20-18, but a Navy service error, a Navy attack error and a Howard block allowed the Bison to build a 23-18 lead. Navy could only close to within 23-21 before kills by Elebute and Gabrielle Martin closed out the set and the match for Howard.
Howard (2-12) held offensive advantages over Navy in kills (59-41) and attack percentage (.275-.195), while most of the defensive statistics between the teams were nearly identical.
Elebute finished with a match-high 18 kills, with Partridge adding 14 kills and a .435 attack percentage for the Bison. Fortner paced the Mids with 11 kills and eight digs and tied Ndidi Ibe (So., North Richland Hills, Texas) for the team lead in blocks with four.
Just as Navy's match against the Bison was close, so too was it a tight affair between the Mids and UMES. The opening set was tied nine times, with the last knotted score coming at 20-20. It was at that point the Hawks went on a 4-0 run to build an insurmountable cushion over the Mids on their way to winning the first set.
Next, UMES slowly turned a slim 12-11 lead into a 15-11 advantage in the middle of the second set. Navy would only be able to close to within three points at 16-13 before the Hawks closed out the set.
The Hawks tried to run away from the Mids in the third set by taking advantages of 15-10 and 19-16. Navy would quickly rally and tied the score at 20-20. After a kill from Zoe Bowens gave the Hawks the lead again at 21-20, back-to-back attack errors and a block by the Navy tandem of Fortner and Ibe gave the Mids a 23-21 lead. Bowens notched another kill to slice the margin in half, but she then committed consecutive attack errors to allow Navy to win the second set.
Navy finally was able to play with the lead in the fourth set. The Mids scored the first four points of the frame and soon built a 10-6 lead. UMES chipped away at the deficit and closed to within one point at 15-14. Navy responded with a 5-1 run to take a 20-15 advantage and held a lead of at least four points over the remainder of the set.
The fifth set saw UMES score three of the first four points on its way to building a 6-2 lead. After Bowens committed an attack error, the Hawks ran off the ensuing four points to take a 10-3 lead and soon closed out the match.
Navy's (4-10) offense again struggled against UMES (5-8). The Mids recorded 43 kills and a .169 attack percentage while the Hawks finished with 67 kills and a .215 hitting percentage.
Individually, Bowens posted 19 kills for UMES, while her teammates Maline Vaitai and Kaveigna Lea'Aetoa recorded 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Ibe posted 14 kills, a .520 attack percentage and eight blocks to lead Navy in all three statistical categories. Playing well for Navy in her most lengthy performance of the season was Veronica Ffrench (Fr., Milton, Fla.), who tallied 10 kills, hit .381 and hauled in five digs. Fortner recorded six kills, 24 assists and six blocks, while Holly Berger (Fr., Claremont, Calif.) grabbed a match-high 17 digs for the Mids.
"We have to do a better job at putting the ball away on offense," said Schwob. "That starts with an improvement in our passing game and runs right through to the attackers receiving a good ball to hit from the setters and then being able to hit the gaps in the defense and put the ball down. We are putting a lot of pressure on our defense. We are playing well on defense, but we need to make it easier on ourselves and that starts with better offensive play."
Fortner was Navy's representative on the all-tournament team, her third such honor in the last three tournaments. The setter / right-side hitter finished the three matches with one triple-double, one double-double and a team-high 32 kills to go along with 56 assists (second on team), 27 digs (second on team, most among non-defensive players) and 11 blocks.
Navy will open its Patriot League season next weekend with matches Sept. 24 at Colgate and Sept. 25 at Bucknell.
"We have a lot of new faces either to the lineup or to the team as a whole this season," said Schwob. "Our record is nowhere what we wanted it to be heading into the start of league play, but we have given a lot of people valuable playing time and we have learned a lot in our first 14 matches. Now we need to be able to apply those lessons in Patriot League play."
Tournament Summary
Match Results
UMES def. Howard, 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-16)
Hartford def. Navy, 3-2 (23-25, 28-26, 25-12, 23-25, 15-9)
Hartford def. UMES, 3-2 (25-14, 15-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13)
Howard def. Navy, 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21)
Howard def. Hartford, 3-2 (16-25, 25-18, 25-18, 21-25, 15-9)
UMES def. Navy, 3-2 (25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 20-25, 15-7)
Team Placings
1. Hartford (2-1)
2. UMES (2-1)
3. Howard (2-1)
4. Navy (0-3)
All-Tournament Team
Hartford - Kami Nethersole (MVP), Lindsay Ford, Dionna Kirton
UMES - Kaveigna Lea'Aetoa, Samantha Chukwura
Howard - Tosin Elebute
Navy - Erin Fortner
