Sept. 10, 2011
Final Stats
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- A long five-set victory by the Navy volleyball team was followed by a close three-set loss by the Mids Saturday as Navy closed out play in the Hartford / Quinnipiac Invitational. The Mids first posted a 21-25, 25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 16-14, win over Quinnipiac before dropping a 25-23, 25-17, 25-20, loss to La Salle.
Navy 3, Quinnipiac 2
Carolyn Ewert's (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif.) career-high 20 digs and Holly Berger's (Claremont, Calif.) Navy record 32 digs helped the Navy volleyball team post a five-set victory over Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon at Burt Kahn Court in Hamden, Conn.
Quinnipiac (1-7) broke open the first set when a 5-0 run by the Bobcats gave them a 17-12 advantage. Navy narrowed the margin down to within two points on four different occasions, including at 23-21, but a Quinnipiac kill and a Navy attack error gave the Bobcats the opening set win.
Set number two was tied at 19-19 until a service error and an attack error by Quinnipiac gave Navy a 21-19 lead. Christy Rapp (Jr., Royal Oak, Mich.) followed with a kill to expand the lead for the Mids to three points (22-19). A Navy attack error closed the difference between the teams to two points (22-20), but back-to-back kills by Navy's Katie Bray (Jr., Cary, N.C.) and Maida Kalic' (Sr., Vernon, N.Y.) boosted the margin up to four points (24-20). A Navy service error extended the set, which was ended on the ensuing play when Kalic' posted a kill.
Navy used a 6-0 run in the middle of the third set to distance itself from Quinnipiac. The Mids trailed, 14-13, when Ewert and Bray posted consecutive kills for Navy. That was followed by a Quinnipiac attack error, kills by Ewert and Erin Fortner (So., Villa Hills, Ky.) and a block by the tandem of Sara Baugh (So., Terre Haute, Ind.) and Bray. The Mids would hold a lead of at least three points over the remainder of the set.
Quinnipiac jumped out to a 6-1 lead at the start of the fourth set and never looked back in winning the frame to force a fifth and final set.
The decisive fifth set between the teams was tied nine times but had just one lead change. Navy built a three-point lead at 9-6 and then was able to expand the advantage to four points at 11-7. The Bobcats rallied and scored the ensuing four points to knot the set at 11-11. The two teams then traded the next four points to make the score 13-13. A kill by Ewert took the Mids to match point, but a service error by Fortner tied the frame again. After Ewert knocked down another kill to break the tie, Fortner dished the ball to Alex Cassel (Fr., Sandy, Utah) for a kill to end the two-hour and 20-minute match.
"At this time of the season, whenever we can get to a fifth set, it is a positive due to the experience we can gain," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Winning a fifth set is even better."
Navy tallied 56 kills and hit .211 on the afternoon, while Quinnipiac totaled 47 kills and hit .113. The Bobcats made up for the difference in kills by dropping in 16 service aces to just three for the Mids. However, Navy grabbed 97 digs and tallied 4.0 team blocks, while Quinnipiac finished the match with 83 digs and zero blocks.
Berger's 32 kills not only paced all players in the match, it also establishes a new Navy record for the most digs tallied during the rally scoring era that started with the 2001 season. Her haul breaks the previous standard of 28 digs set by Megan Vehovic in a five-set match six seasons ago. Additionally, the 32 digs is the second-highest tally by a Mid in school history regardless of scoring format. The lone Navy player to finish a match (since records were available in 1994) with more digs than Berger's effort Saturday was Nikki St. Clair, who grabbed 35 digs in a five-set match back in 1996.
Ewert's effort breaks her own personal standard of 19 kills, which she set Friday afternoon in Navy's five-set win over Hartford. She also finished the match against the Bobcats with a career high of 15 digs.
Berger and Ewert were far from the only Mids to put together impressive statistics in the box score. Rapp posted a double-double of 12 kills and 18 digs, Fortner dished out 48 assists while hauling in 13 digs, Bray totaled 7 kills and 12 digs and Kalic tallied 10 kills and a pair of blocks.
"We received very nice balance in the match," said Bock. "I think Erin did a really nice job of running the offense. I feel more and more she truly has the team under her wing and is taking them in the right direction. It is not mechanical with her; it is more of an art."
La Salle 3, Navy 0
The Mids (3-8) opened play at the Hartford / Quinnipiac Invitational Friday on the Hartford campus. Navy posted a five-set win over the host Hawks in a two-hour match that started at 4 p.m. Less than one hour after finishing that contest, Navy was back on the court in what would turn out to be a four-set win by the Mids over Delaware State. Saturday morning, Navy drove nearly an hour to Hamden, Conn., for its 11 a.m. match against Quinnipiac. After that match ended, the Mids quickly returned to West Hartford, Conn., for a 4 p.m. match against La Salle. Conversely, La Salle (3-8) played a pair of matches Friday at Quinnipiac and had not yet played a match on Saturday when they took to the court against the Mids.
The rigors of the weekend may have caught up with the Mids in a three-set loss to the Explorers at the Hartford Sports Center.
Navy fell behind early in the opening set of its match against the Explorers. La Salle quickly opened up a 13-6 advantage before the Mids started to climb back into the set. Navy narrowed the margin down to one point a total of seven times, with the first instance coming at 14-13. With the Explorers holding a 21-20 lead, a La Salle kill and a Navy attack error boosted the margin back to three points (23-20). The two teams traded points to make the score 24-21, then Ewert posted back-to-back kills to again make the difference just one point at 24-23. However, a kill by La Salle's Kourtney Clark would give the first set to the Explorers.
La Salle opened up a lead of as many as four points -- 12-8 -- in the early part of the second set, but Navy again fought back and soon tied the frame at 13-13. The teams pretty much played sideout volleyball for a span that gave La Salle an 18-17 lead. A Navy service error made the margin two points, and then La Salle ran off the ensuing six points to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
The early part of the third set was much like the second set. La Salle built an 11-7 lead, but this time that four-point deficit would be too much for the Mids to climb out of. Navy cut the difference in half, but the Explorers opened up the set with a 7-2 run that gave them an 18-11 cushion. Navy was able to shave four points off of that margin to make the score 18-15 and was still within three-points of La Salle at 21-18 and 23-20 until a kill by the Explorers and an attack error by the Mids closed out the match.
"I think we hit a brick wall, both physically and mentally," said Bock. "La Salle played very well against us, but I don't know how much we had left in the tank to give. That showed up in our hitting numbers."
La Salle posted just four more kills than Navy did in the match, 40-36, but the Explorers hit .252 to Navy's .136. The Mids held a slight edge in digs, 45-39, but most other statistics between the teams were nearly identical.
Individually, Ewert again paced the Mids with 13 kills, while Berger grabbed a match-high 13 digs. Veronica Ffrench (So., Milton, Fla.) added nine kills and Rapp hauled in 11 digs.
"(Assistant coach) Kait Kozak and I both feel strongly that this team can be good," said Bock. "I hope everyone on the bus ride home is thinking they were the best team in the tournament. And for the most part, that showed up on the court. I hope our confidence level is getting to the right place. We are getting better, but we know we still have a long way to go."
Navy will close out its four consecutive weeks of tournaments Sept. 16-17 when the Mids take part in the Harvard Invitational.
