Sept. 16, 2011
Final Stats
BOSTON, Mass. - Northeastern held the Navy volleyball team to an attack percentage of .050 in posting a three-set victory over the Midshipmen Friday afternoon at the Harvard Invitational in Boston, Mass. The Huskies improved to 8-2 on the season with the 25-15, 25-16, 25-14 win over the now 3-9 Mids.
"Bad passing reared its ugly head," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "That cost us tonight against a very good Northeastern team that will contend for the Colonial Athletic Association title this fall. We hung in there at various parts, but bad things happened everytime we got out of system. Northeastern capitalized on anything less than a good attack from us.
"Blocking was a plus for us, and we received a good performance from Veronica Ffrench (So., Milton, Fla.). She is starting to round into good offensive form."
Navy took an early 6-2 lead in the opening set, but Northeastern ran off the next nine points to take an 11-6 lead. The Mids closed to within two points at 11-9 until an 8-1 run by the Huskies broke the set open for good.
Northeastern quickly jumped out to an 8-4 lead at the start of the second set. Navy remained within striking range of the Huskies as the Mids pulled to within three points as late as at 15-12, but Northeastern slowly expanded the advantage over the remainder of the set.
The two teams were tied at 9-9 in the early part of the third set, but the Huskies scored the ensuing seven points to distance themselves from the Mids.
In addition to its defense holding the Navy offense to its aforementioned .050 attack percentage, Northeastern's offense hit .268 for the afternoon. The Huskies tallied 40 kills, seven service aces and 49 digs, with the Mids totaling 25 kills, one ace and 35 digs. Both squads recorded 6.0 team blocks.
Leading the Navy offense were Maida Kalic' (Sr., Vernon, N.Y.) with seven kills and Ffrench with six kills. Kalic' also hit .357 for the afternoon. Defensively for the Mids, Katie Bray (Jr., Cary, N.C.) posted six digs and three blocks, Alex Cassel (Fr., Sandy, Utah) totaled three blocks and Holly Berger (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) scooped up six digs.
Northeastern's Janelle Tucker led all players in the match with 10 kills.
Navy will play a pair of matches Saturday in Boston. The Mids will first face Holy Cross in a non-Patriot League match at 10 a.m. before taking on tournament-host Harvard at 1 p.m.
