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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team overcame late deficits in each set to rally for a 27-25, 27-25, 28-26 victory over Army, Friday night in front of a crowd of over 1,000 fans at Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The Mids (6-8, 3-2 Patriot League) trailed the Black Knights (7-12, 3-4) 24-21 in the first set, 23-20 in the second and 21-19 in the third before rallying to win each frame.

Tonight's contest served as the Star Match between the teams, with Navy earning the Star for the first time since 2005. It also marked the first time the Mids had swept the Black Knights since 1997.

"I think the crowd was a major deal tonight," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, who in his fourth season won his first match in the Army-Navy series. "We got on a nice roll, and it is fun to play well against a good team in a great atmosphere."

Army led for the majority of the first set and held a lead as large as six points at both 16-10 and 18-12. Navy winnowed the margin down to two points at 21-19 before Army opened it back up to four points at 23-19. After a timeout by the Mids, Maggie Phillips (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) posted a kill to cut the deficit down to three points, then a block by Alex Cassel (Sr., Sandy, Utah) made the score 23-21. Nicole Perri notched a kill to take the Black Knights to set point with a 24-21 advantage. Cassel first recorded a kill and then a block to wipe away Army's first two set-point opportunities, with the latter play being followed by an Army timeout.

Navy's Tara Dotzauer (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) posted a kill after the break to tie the score, but a Phillips service error gave Army its fourth chance to serve for the set. Gaby Smith (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) tallied a kill for the Mids to tie the set again, then she posted another kill to give the Mids their first lead of the night. Navy went back to Smith again and she connected for her third kill in a row and sixth kill in the set to give the Mids the opening frame.

Neither team was able to separate itself from the other in the second set. The score would be tied a total of 11 times and the lead would switch hands on four occasions. Army used a small 3-1 run to build a 20-17 lead, which became 21-18 after the teams traded sideouts. Navy shaved two points off of that margin only to see Army gain them right back and take a 23-20 lead.

Setter Star Steele (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) found Cassel for a kill to make it a two-point difference, then Rachel Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) set Steele on a broken play that resulted in a kill to make the score 23-22 and lead to an Army timeout. The very next play ended with Steele connecting with Cassel for a kill to tie the set as 23-23.

Army regained the lead when Perri posted a kill, but Navy erased the set point against it with a kill by Cassel. A kill by Molly McDonald gave the Black Knights their second chance to serve for the set, but Smith notched a kill to tie the score once again. Navy then took a 26-25 lead -- its first lead in the set since 14-13 -- when Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) tallied a block on Carolyn Bockrath. That led to an Army timeout. The ensuing play saw Steele set Smith for a kill to give the Mids a 2-0 advantage in sets.

Navy put together its best start to a set in set number three as the Mids took leads of 6-2 and 10-5. Army stormed right back and tied the set at 13-13. Either the score was tied or Navy had a one-point lead over the next few points until a run of three-straight points gave Army a 20-18 advantage. The teams promptly traded kills to make the score 21-19 in favor of the Black Knights before an Army attack error and an ace by Fortner tied the score at 21-21. Fortner followed with another service ace to give the Mids a one-point lead, with that margin growing to two points on a kill from Cassel.

Army's Jaden Pickell cut the gap in half with a kill, then an Army attack error took the Mids to match point with a 24-22 lead. A McDonald kill staved off Navy's first point to win the match, then a ball-handling error on Fortner tied the score at 24-24. Smith posted a kill -- her sixth of the set -- to give Navy a 25-24 lead, then Bockrath answered with a kill to tie the score at 25-25. Navy successfully sided out thanks to an Army attack error, but back came Bockrath on the next play to knot the score at 26-26 -- the 10th tie of the frame. The Mids went to the middle on the ensuing play and Sylakowski ended it with a kill that gave them a 27-26 lead and their fifth opportunity to win the match. This time, Navy would close out the nearly 100-minute match with a kill by Fortner.

As would be expected in a match that was decided by the minimum number of points in each set, the statistics between the teams were very close to one another. Navy totaled 48 kills to Army's 47, the Mids dished out 46 assists to Army's 45, both teams had three service aces and the Mids held slim advantages over the Black Knights in both digs, 52-49, and blocks, 8-6. The one statistic in which Navy held any kind of cushion over Army was in hitting percentage where the Mids posted a mark of .250 and limited the Black Knights to just a .178 percentage.

"We had three aces, as did Army," said Bock, "but ours came at critical times. That helped get them out of system a bit. We had wanted the serving-passing game to click a little bit this year and eventually it did tonight."

Smith led all players in the match with 16 kills. That tied her career high -- set in a five-set match -- and bettered her previous high for kills in a three-set match by six. She also accrued a Navy-best .387 attack percentage in the match.

"Gaby was in the middle of things for us tonight," said Bock. "We were getting the ball to her and she had great swings."

Though Smith was the lone Mid to tally double figures in kills, Phillips added nine kills, Cassel contributed eight kills while hitting .375, Dotzauer posted eight kills and Fortner chipped in five kills to go along with her 21 assists and three aces. Defensively, Alli Graf (So., Annapolis, Md.) hauled in a match-high 21 digs, Fortner snared nine digs, Maeve Drummey (Jr., Silver Spring, Md.) finished with seven digs and Sylakowski posted four solo blocks.

"Maeve and Alli really shored up our passes as we became deeper in each set," said Bock.

Perri led Army's offense with 10 kills, while Vanessa Edwards tallied 16 digs to pace the defense for the Black Knights.

Navy has limited time to savor tonight's win as the Mids are back in action Saturday at noon when they play host to Holy Cross in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.

"Tonight was a very important match, for a lot of reasons," said Bock. "The large picture is what will come into focus in 14-and-a-half hours. We'll know how resilient and good our team really is because we have a tough one again tomorrow. A question of how resilient we really are will be answered by how tomorrow goes."