Sept. 3, 2010
Final Stats
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After starting the day with a three-set loss to Buffalo, the Navy volleyball team bounced back to post a three-set sweep of Central Connecticut State Friday on the opening day of the Buffalo Invitational in Buffalo, N.Y.
Navy will close play at the two-day tournament Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. match against Delaware State.
Navy's opening match of the day saw the Mids drop a 23-25, 25-13, 25-13, 25-15 decision to the Bulls (4-1). The Mids build a sizeable lead midway through the first set by the score of 16-11, but Buffalo quickly rallied to pull to within one point at 17-16. Navy tried to separate itself from the Bulls by taking leads of 20-17, 21-18 and 23-20. But back-to-back kills by Buffalo made the score 23-22. Ndidi Ibe (So., North Richland Hills, Texas) knocked down a kill to allow the Mids to serve for the first set, but a kill by Dana Musil allowed the Bulls to stave off the initial set-point opportunity. However, Kelly Svoboda promptly committed a service error to give the first set to the Mids.
The second set was very close up until the middle of the set. Navy was within two points of Buffalo at 12-10 when the Bulls ran off six of the next seven points to take what would prove to be an insurmountable lead of 18-11.
Sets three and four were nearly identical to each other as Buffalo jumped out to a 13-3 advantage in both sets on its way to recording the victory.
"We started the match really well with a great first set," said Navy head coach and Buffalo native Mike Schwob. "We did not, however, play all that well in the last three sets."
Navy totaled 10 kills and hit .147 in the first set while Buffalo posted 16 kills and an attack percentage of .152. However, the remainder of the match saw the Mids record just 20 more kills and hit a combined -.129 while the Bulls recorded 41 kills and hit .299.
Ibe, Erin Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) and Maida Kalic' (Jr., Vernon, N.Y.) all tallied six kills for the Mids, while Buffalo's Kayla Govier finished with 15 kills to lead all players in the match.
Despite the loss, the Mids (2-4) found a little rhythm on offense late in the fourth set against Buffalo, and that carried over into Navy's 25-23, 25-19, 25-21 victory over Central Connecticut State (1-1).
Navy scored four of the first five points of the first set against the Blue Devils before opening up leads of 11-4 and 15-11. The Mids would go on to hold leads of 20-14 and 24-19 before CCSU went on a late run to close to within 24-23. An attack error by Jamie Rademacher on the ensuing play would give the Mids the set-clinching point.
The late success by the Blue Devils in the opening set continued in the early part of the second set as CCSU scored the opening three points of the frame. Navy rebounded to take a 6-4 lead before opening up a 19-10 advantage that gave it enough of a cushion to take the 2-0 lead.
Navy tried to run away from the Blue Devils early in the third set by scoring the first three points on its way to building a 16-10 lead. The Blue Devils would promptly go on a 9-2 run to take a 19-18 lead. Ibe recorded a kill for the Mids and then a block by the tandem of Kalic' and Kaitlin Roseti (Jr., Williamsville, N.Y.) gave the Mids the lead again at 20-19. After kill by the Blue Devils tied the score (20-20), a kill by Nicole Salmon (Fr., Aurora, Ill.) and an attack error by CCSU allowed the Mids to open up a 22-20 lead. That lead was sliced in half on a kill by Amanda Bayer, but that was followed by a kill from Fortner, a kill from Lauren Carpenter (Jr., Murphy, Texas) and a Central Connecticut State attack error to close out the set and the match.
Neither offense put up strong numbers in the match as the teams combined for 67 kills and 52 attack errors. Navy posted a hitting percentage of .130 in the match and held CSSU to a percentage of .000.
Salmon finished with a match-high 10 kills, Ibe added nine kills and four blocks, and Central Connecticut State's Emily Cochran recorded nine kills. Defensively, CCSU's Kaitlin Petrella hauled in a match-high 10 digs, Navy's Holly Berger (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) grabbed 15 digs, Carpenter finished with 12 digs, and Roseti and CCSU's Tori Vaughan both tallied six blocks.
"We had very good starts to each of the sets, which gave us some cushions when we needed it," said Schwob. "Our offense is struggling to get on track, but our defense is playing really well. Our block is providing us a number of opportunities to put points up on the board. It has really bailed us out of some situations."
