Oct. 26, 2014 Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A strong match both serving and receiving serve keyed the Navy volleyball team to a three-set victory over Lafayette, Sunday afternoon at the
Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Mids trailed by a total of six points -- twice in each of the three sets, and never by more than one point -- in their 25-18, 25-14, 25-22 victory over the Leopards.
"Obviously we served the ball tough," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Our ace-to-error ratio (8-9) was about even, which is fine. If we can follow that up with good dig numbers and blocks, which we were able to do today, we know we are doing well in that part of the game. And that all starts with the serve."
Navy (10-9, 7-3 Patriot League) went on sizeable runs in sets one and two to pull away from Lafayette (4-19, 1-10) in each. The Mids began the contest by scoring seven of the first 10 points of the opening frame to quickly build a four-point cushion. After a Navy attack error, a kill by Gaby Smith (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) ignited a 7-0 sprint for the Mids. Sofia Luczak (So., Aiea, Hawaii) dropped back to serve after Smith's kill and she promptly recorded an ace. She would add two more aces in her run to take the Mids out to a 14-4 advantage, which soon grew to 22-13 late in the frame.
The Mids also took a 7-3 lead in the early part of the second set and were able to extend it out to seven points at 14-7. Lafayette winnowed the margin down to two points at 14-12 when a block by Alex Cassel (Sr., Sandy, Utah) returned the serve to Navy. Alli Graf (So., Annapolis, Md.) toed the service line with that 15-12 lead, and she continued to serve through the Mids taking a 20-12 advantage. Navy soon built a 21-13 lead when Rachel Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) went back to serve. She dropped in back-to-back aces to give the Mids a 10-point lead at 23-13. After a Lafayette kill, Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) tallied a solo block, then an attack error by the Leopards closed out the second set.
The third set was close -- Navy's largest lead was two points and there were eight ties -- until the midpoint of the frame. The Mids were nursing a 16-15 lead when Cassel posted consecutive kills to make the score 18-15. Smith posted a kill of her own (19-15), then back-to-back blocks -- Fortner and Cassel on the former, Smith and Cassel on the latter -- extended the lead out to 21-15.
Lafayette quickly crept back into the set as it cut the margin down to three points at both 21-18 and 22-19 before slicing it to two points at 23-21. Sylakowski promptly knocked down a kill to end the next point and take the Mids to match point. After a Navy attack error, Sylakowski notched another kill to end the 75-minute match.
Navy finished the match with eight service aces while allowing Lafayette to tally just two aces. That strong serving game also allowed the Mids to hold a .279-.089 advantage in hitting percentage. Aiding that difference in hitting was Navy recording 11 blocks to just 6 for the Leopards.
"The blocking made a difference," said Bock. "Lafayette is a really aggressive team. The kind of swings they were taking lined up with their trying to get around a solid block and helped lead to their 19 attack errors."
No Mid reached double figures in kills, but both of Navy's setters -- Fortner and Star Steele (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) -- spread the ball around so that six Mids recorded at least four kills in the match to help each setter dish out 15 assists. Smith led Navy with not only eight kills, but also with an attack percentage of .800. That ties her for the second-best hitting percentage in a three-set match in school history. While Smith did not commit an attack error on her 10 swings, Sylakowski only committed one on her 13 attempts to finish with seven kills and a .462 hitting percentage. Fellow middle hitter Cassel and opposite hitter Tara Dotzauer (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) each tallied six kills on the afternoon.
"If we can keep getting good production from all of the geography along the net, we are going to be a little more difficult to game plan against," said Bock. "Today, without thinking of individuals, we received productivity from every zone along the net. That's not something that is critical, but is important."
Five different Mids accrued at least one ace in the match. Luczak's three led the team, with Fortner dropping in two and the triumvirate of Smith, Sylakowski and Graf each accounting for one ace.
Defensively, Sylakowski recorded six blocks, Cassel had four blocks and Maggie Phillips (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) had three blocks to go along with her five kills.
"With Katie hitting .462 and having six blocks in a three-set match, that's major league stuff," said Bock. "It is really neat to see how our team responds to both Katie and Alex. The whole level and mood on the court picks up when they are having success on either offense or defense. Alex's very presence is really important to us."
Lafayette's offense was led by Jet Manzi's nine kills, while teammate Lauren Pisauro snared a match-high 13 digs.
The win moves Navy into a third-place tie with Colgate in the Patriot League standings. Both teams have identical 7-3 records, with Colgate essentially ahead of the Mids due to the Raiders winning in five sets in the first meeting of the season between the teams. The Mids stand 1.5 games in front of Army (two ahead in the loss column) and 2.0 games ahead of Holy Cross (three in the loss column).
Navy begins an arduous closing stretch of playing four of their last six matches away from home Oct. 31 at Bucknell -- the Bison lost in five sets at Army Saturday -- and Nov. 1 at second-place Lehigh.
