Sept. 12, 2014 Final Stats
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Late rallies in a pair of sets went for naught for the Navy volleyball team as the Mids dropped a 28-26, 25-23, 25-13 decision to Cleveland State Friday night at Woodling Gym in Cleveland, Ohio. The loss drops Navy's record on the year to 2-5, while the win gives Cleveland State a 4-4 mark this season.
"We had a couple of great comebacks in both the first and second sets," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Realistically, we were a point or two away from being up 2-0 instead of being down 0-2."
The opening frame was tied at 9-9 when Cleveland State scored seven of the next eight points to build a 16-10 advantage. Navy quickly chipped away at the deficit and soon pulled to within one point at 19-18. Following a point by the Vikings, the Mids ran off the ensuing three points on kills from Gaby Smith (So., Virginia Beach, Va.), Alex Cassel (Sr., Sandy, Utah) and Maggie Phillips (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) to take a 21-20 lead.
Cleveland State regained the lead with back-to-back points (22-21), then consecutive sideouts gave the Vikings a 23-22 lead. Alexis Middlebrooks and Christina Toth teamed up for a block on Phillips to take the Vikings to set point with a 24-22 advantage. Cleveland State wiped away its first set point opportunity on a bad set, then Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) tallied a kill to tie the set at 24-24. The Mids were the next team to have a chance to serve for the set when Olivia Kluger (Fr., Carmel, Ind.) blocked Toth. However, a bad set by Navy allowed Cleveland State to tie the set again at 25-25. Sylakowski gave Navy another serve for the set with another kill (26-25), but Toth answered with a kill of her own to knot the set at 26-26. A Navy attack error gave the Viking their third set-point opportunity, which they converted on a kill by Maggie Hannon.
"Olivia came off the bench in the first set and gave us all sorts of quality contacts," said Bock.
Navy again overcame a sizable deficit in the second set to take a late lead. The score was tied at 6-6 when a 5-0 run by the Vikings gave them an 11-6 lead. A short while later the margin was extended to six points at 15-9. The Mids closed to within three points at 15-12, then cut the deficit down to two at 17-15 only to see Cleveland State take leads of 20-15 and 21-17. Back-to-back points by the Mids made the score 21-19, then another tally by the Vikings gave them a three-point lead.
A Cleveland State service error ignited a quick 4-0 run by Navy that gave it a 23-22 lead. The service error was followed by an attack error by the Vikings, then consecutive Rachel Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) and Sylakowski allowed the Mids to take a one-point advantage. Grace Kauth promptly took matters into her own hands for Cleveland State as she ended the next three points with kills to give the Vikings a 25-23 victory in the frame and a 2-0 lead in sets.
"Just as Olivia did in the first set, Tara Dotzauer (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) did the same things off the bench in the second set to spark us," said Bock.
"We did some uncharacteristic things at the most critical times of the first and second sets."
The Vikings took an early lead of 8-2 in the third set and extended it out to 15-3 to thwart any chances the Mids may have had at rallying for a third straight set. The closest Navy could close to was seven points at 15-8 and 18-11.
"We had made a lot of personnel changes during the first two sets," said Bock, "so we made some more at the start of the third set and it cost us."
Much of Cleveland State's statistical advantages came as a result of its play in the third set. Through two sets of play, the Vikings had totaled 27 kills and 16 errors on 95 attempts, while the Mids had accrued 27 kills and 14 errors on 97 swings. Cleveland State hit .229 (10-2-35) in the final set of play while limiting the Mids to a -.054 percentage (7-9-37). The Vikings also held comfortable advantages over Navy in both aces (8-1) and blocks (12-7), and a slim edge in digs (71-68) for the match.
Navy again had a very balanced offensive attack with four players totaling at least six kills, but no member of that foursome produced more than seven kills. Smith, Fortner and Sylakowski each had seven kills, with Phillips contributing six. Defensively, libero Alli Graf (So., Annapolis, Md.) snared 22 digs for Navy, with Smith adding 16 and Fortner 13. Additionally, Cassel tallied four blocks and Fortner accounted for three blocks.
Kauth and Toth paced the Cleveland State attack with the duo combining for 26 kills and a hitting percentage of over .300. Kauth posted 16 kills and just two errors to hit .389, with Toth adding 10 kills and three errors for a hitting mark of .269.
"Cleveland State was getting a lot of its digs `in system' and we were getting most of digs `out of system,' so their dig quality was better than ours," said Bock. "That was the difference in the match; they were able to counter attack better from their defense than we were."
Navy will continue play at the venue Saturday with matches against Toledo (10 a.m.) and Dayton (4:30 p.m.).
