Sept. 17, 2011
Final Stats
BOSTON, Mass. - The Navy volleyball team finished play at the Harvard Invitational Saturday by posting a four-set victory over Holy Cross and dropping a three-set decision to the tournament-host Crimson. The Mids defeated the Crusaders by scores of 25-20, 27-29, 25-16 and 25-23, while they lost to Harvard by the count of 25-17, 25-20, 25-16.
Navy played the two matches without the services of starting setter Erin Fortner (So., Villa Hills, Ky.), who was injured late in Friday's match against Northeastern. Shelby Mass (So., Owings, Md.) took over as setter for the Mids and tallied 81 assists on the day.
"I was really pleased with how our kids played," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "I think we gained a lot of confidence and momentum from our Holy Cross win, and we can learn a lot from our matches against Northeastern and Harvard.
"Shelby was great for us today. She came in and did what we hoped she would do."
Navy had to rally to win the opening set from Holy Cross (4-9). The Crusaders held a 12-9 lead when the Mids went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-12 advantage. The Mids held a slim 16-15 advantage when a kill from Carolyn Ewert (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif.), a bad set by Holy Cross and a kill by Katie Bray (Jr., Cary, N.C.) made the score 19-15. Navy was able to expand its cushion to five points at 21-16 and held a lead of at least three points over the rest of the set.
Whereas Navy opened up a slight lead in the middle part of the first set, the second set saw Holy Cross build a slim cushion at that same point. The Crusaders held a 14-13 lead until they ran off four-straight points to take an 18-13 advantage. The margin would soon be five points at 19-14 when the Mids answered with a run of their own that gave Navy a 20-19 lead. The last three points of that stretch were tallied on service aces from Christy Rapp (Jr., Royal Oak, Mich.). Holy Cross responded by tallying the next four points to take a 23-20 lead, which soon became 24-22.
Navy erased both set-point opportunities on a kill by Ewert and a block by the tandem of Bray and Alex Cassel (Fr., Sandy, Utah). Bray committed an attack error to give Holy Cross a 25-24 lead, but a kill by Cassel tied the frame at 25-25. A bad set by Cassel gave the Crusaders another chance at winning the set, which was denied by the Mids on a kill from Bray. A Holy Cross kill was followed by another kill by Bray to make the score 27-27. Holy Cross again took the slimmest of leads at 28-27, and finally closed out the set on its sixth opportunity to do so on a block.
The Mids bounced back from the disappointment by scoring six of the first eight points of the third set. Holy Cross winnowed the margin down to two points at 10-8, but the Mids expanded the gap with an 8-3 run that gave the Mids an 18-11 lead.
The fourth set was a see-saw affair with both teams holding slim leads over the other. Navy jumped out to a 5-1 lead at the start of the set only to see Holy Cross take a 14-13 advantage. The Crusaders continued that strong play by taking three-point leads at 19-16, 20-17 and 21-18. A kill by Ewert made it a two-point set, which soon became one point on a bad set by Holy Cross. The frame was all tied up again at 21-21 after a Holy Cross attack error. The teams then traded the ensuing four points to make the score 23-23. Bray posted a kill to take the Mids to match point, which they converted when a well-placed short serve by Ewert led to a Holy Cross attack error.
"Our antenna hitters came through for us in a big way," said Bock. "We also served the ball really well. Carolyn's serve at match point couldn't have been placed any better. It is tough to serve short."
Navy held sizeable advantages over Holy Cross in kills (60-41) and hitting percentage (.253-.146), but most of the remaining team statistics were fairly close.
Ewert led all players in the match with 16 kills, while Bray posted a career-high 15 kills to go along with a .407 attack percentage. Mass, who entered this weekend without having recorded an assist in her collegiate career, dished out 51 helpers in the match. Defensively, Holly Berger (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) and Rapp were two of four Mids to haul in double-digit digs. Berger's 17 digs led Navy while Rapp grabbed 15 digs. Additionally, Rapp's recorded three of Navy's 10 aces in the match.
Kathleen Colpoys led Holy Cross with 14 kills and a .462 attack percentage.
Navy (4-10) would play well in the early part of each of the three sets against Harvard (7-2). The Mids held a 6-4 lead in the first set, took a 7-3 lead in the second set and scored six of the opening nine points of the third set. However, the Crimson responded each time. Harvard built leads of 13-9, 16-12 and 17-9 in the three respective frames.
"We hung in there early in each of the sets against Harvard," said Bock. "We gave up one long run in each of the sets that hurt. We had some bad match ups in terms of their hitters going against our blockers. As a coach, I couldn't get a feel for that."
Despite the three-set win by the Crimson, the majority of the box score shows a pretty balanced contest. Harvard led the Mids slightly in kills, 35-29, and digs, 60-54, but the Crimson also held advantages of .191-.059 in attack percentage and 9-2 in blocks.
Ewert, Cassel and Caroline Jacobs (So., Arnold, Md.) each posted five kills for Navy in the match, while Berger tallied 19 digs and Bray grabbed 10 digs.
Harvard's Taylor Docter led all players with nine kills and her teammate Christine Wu hauled in 25 digs.
"This weekend shows we are improving as a team," said Bock. "We received a real gutty performance from a team that is getting tougher all of the time."
Navy's final match prior to the start of Patriot League play will be Tuesday night when the Midshipmen play host to Morgan State at 6 p.m. in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.
