Sept. 4, 2011

Final Stats

FAIRFAX, Va. -- UNC Greensboro held off several rallies by the Navy volleyball team to post a four-set victory over the Midshipmen Sunday on the final day of the Patriot Invitational held on the George Mason campus in Fairfax, Va. The Spartans defeated the Mids by set scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-18.

"We made some progress over the weekend," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "We played at a competitive level. The women played hard; they really worked this weekend. We are doing some really intelligent things at the right time. We are experiencing longer runs of our own and limiting the runs of our opposition. We faced better competition than we did last weekend, but fared a little better."

Greensboro (3-3) used an 8-0 run in the match's opening set to take a 12-6 advantage over Navy (0-6). The Spartans proceeded to maintain a cushion of at least four points over the remainder of the frame.

The Mids again held a slim 6-4 lead early in the second set, but this time they were able to keep and build upon the advantage. Navy increased the margin to five points at 14-9 before taking an 18-10 lead later in the set. The lead would also be at eight points at 24-16 when the Spartans started to rally. Four consecutive kills by Greensboro made it a four-point set, then back-to-back attack errors by the Mids sliced the cushion down to two points at 24-22. The ensuing point saw Christy Rapp (Jr., Royal Oak, Mich.) knock down a kill to give Navy the victory.

The third set was close throughout and featured the score being tied 11 times. Greensboro tried to pull away from Navy in the middle part of the set as the Spartans took their largest lead of five points at 18-13. The Mids climbed right back into the set and soon the margin was down to one point at 18-17, 19-18 and 20-19. However, kills on the ensuing two plays followed by an attack error by the Mids allowed Greensboro to take a 23-19 advantage that was too much for Navy to overcome.

Navy had its poorest start of the match in the early going of the fourth set. The Mids quickly fell behind by as many as six points at 10-4. Navy closed to within three points at 11-8, but Greensboro tallied eight of the next 10 points to pull away from the Mids.

The Spartans held statistical advantages over the Mids in kills (49-37), hitting percentage (.191-.054), digs (76-64) and blocks (12-5). Navy did manage to drop in a season-best 11 service aces in the match, with team captain Holly Berger (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) recording six of the aces.

Leading the Mids in kills for the third time in as many matches was Carolyn Ewert (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif.). The outside hitter who had missed the last 23 months of competition due to a knee injury posted 13 kills and 11 digs against the Spartans. Sunday's effort for Ewert was on the heels of her posting a total of 26 kills in Navy's two matches on Saturday.

"Carolyn didn't just have a good weekend, she had a monster week," said Bock. "It started early in the week with her practices. It is very clear she has the ability to put the ball on the floor right now. That is something the team needs. We found ourselves an outside hitter this week."

Rapp led the Mids with 17 digs, while Erin Fortner (So., Villa Hills, Ky.) dished out 34 assists.

Navy will next play Tuesday night at UMBC.