Sept. 13, 2014 Final Stats
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The non-league portion of the Navy volleyball team's season came to a close Saturday with the Mids splitting a pair of matches at the Cleveland State Invite. Navy began the day by posting a five-set (25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 16-14) win over Toledo and ended it with a three-set (32-30, 25-22, 25-14) loss to Dayton.
"The theme coming into the day for us was competing to win and not just competing to get better," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Even though our record was 1-1 today, I think we got a taste of it not feeling good when we don't win. We wanted to battle on every point and leave our hearts on the court, and we did just that."
The decisive fifth set of Navy's initial match of the day saw the score tied eight times and the lead change hands twice. After a Navy service error gave Toledo an 8-7 lead, a Gaby Smith (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) kill ignited a 5-0 run by the Mids that gave them a 12-8 advantage. Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) followed with a kill, then Star Steele (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) tallied a solo block to make the score 10-8 and lead to a Toledo timeout. An attack error by the Rockets ended the ensuing play, then an ace by Rachel Fortner Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) closed out the sprint.
Toledo's Mary O'Connor registered a kill, then Brooke Frazer blocked Sylakowski to slice the margin in half and result in the Mids calling timeout. Steele promptly blocked Frazer coming out of the break to give Navy a 13-10 lead. Smith committed a service error, but Sylakowski followed with her fourth kill of the frame to take the Mids to match point with a 14-11 advantage.
Navy's cushion was quickly erased by Toledo as it scored the next three points on back-to-back kills and a Navy attack error to tie the set at 14-14. Steele first registered an unassisted kill to give the serve back to Navy, then set Alex Cassel (Sr., Sandy, Utah) for a kill to end the match.
Sylakowski totaled half of Navy's eight kills in the final set and hit .600 in the abbreviated frame. As a comparison, Toledo as a team recorded just six kills in the last set. Steele also played well in the fifth set as she accrued seven assists, one kill, three digs and two solo blocks.
"Everyone in the gym knew we were going to Katie in the match," said Bock, "and especially in the last set. We passed the ball well to give us the chance to go to our middles, and Star did a good job of finding the right people. In the fifth set, that person was Katie."
For the match, Sylakowski posted 14 kills and hit .300, with Smith notching a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs and Cassel adding 11 kills and a pair of block assists. Additionally, Steele dished out 43 assists, dropped in three aces and snared 17 digs. Also putting up strong numbers were Fortner with seven kills, two aces, 15 digs and three blocks, and Alli Graf (So., Annapolis, Md.) with 21 digs.
Navy as a team tallied 53 kills and hit .142 in the match, with Toledo posting 57 kills and hitting .146. The Mids held a slim 8-5 edge in aces while the Rockets held similarly small advantages in both digs (87-83) and blocks (9-6).
Individually for Toledo, Alyssa Ehrhardt recorded 20 kills and Lauren Bakaitis hauled in 23 digs.
"It was good for us to get into a five-set match," said Bock. "We always felt that any time you are in a win-loss set there is going to be a lot of growth. Those were some good reps we had out there against Toledo. We handled it well. We frittered away a lead with some of our plays, but about half of those were the aggressive plays we want our team to make. And they did find a way to win."
After playing a marathon match against Toledo (0-8), Navy (3-6) played a lengthy first set against Dayton (6-3). The score would be tied 21 times -- including at each point from Nos. 15 through 30 -- with the lead being exchanged 10 times. The Mids would serve for the set five times (24-23, 26-25, 27-26, 28-27) with the Flyers having four opportunities to serve for the set (25-24, 29-28, 30-29, 31-30). Dayton eventually earned the victory on a Sylakowski attack error.
"We sided out really well, especially in the first set," said Bock. "I'm glad we went through it."
The second set started off the same way the first set ended as the teams were tied at every point from Nos. 1 through 5. The Flyers ripped off the next four points to take a 9-5 lead and slowly constructed an 18-11 advantage. Navy closed to within two points of Dayton at 23-21, but a kill by Alaina Turner gave the Flyers the chance to serve for the frame with a 24-21 lead. The Mids erased that first opportunity on a Maggie Phillips (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) kill, but Dayton converted on its second chance to win the set on a kill by Amber Erhahon.
Dayton jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the third set and was able to maintain at least a five-point cushion over the remainder of the set to close out the match.
"It was a terrific performance against a very good team," said Bock. "That was another growth opportunity. Like last night against Cleveland State, we would have liked to have come away with a victory in at least a set, but it shows we are close to where we want to be and are getting closer."
The kill totals between the teams were nearly identical through the end of the second set. Dayton had posted 32 kills in that time while Navy had tallied 30 kills. A 13-8 advantage in kills for the Flyers in the final set gave them an overall edge in the match of 45-38.
Though the kill tallies by the teams were very close through two sets, Dayton was much more effective at hitting than Navy was during that same span. The Flyers were hitting .232 after the second set and the Mids were hitting just .151. Dayton would go on to outhit Navy, .248-.112, in the match.
Navy held narrow statistical leads over Dayton in both aces (5-2) and digs (61-58) on the afternoon, and the Flyers tallied a slim 10-8 edge over the Mids in blocks.
Individually, Phillips paced Navy with 12 kills and a .407 attack percentage. She was the lone Mid to reach double figures in kills. Graf dropped in three aces to go along with her team-high 14 digs, Steele recorded 26 assists and 12 digs, Fortner posted seven kills, seven assists, 11 digs and three blocks, and though Sylakowski was limited to just three kills she did add in seven blocks.
Sylakowski was named to the all-tournament team at the event. She averaged 2.18 kills and 1.00 blocks per set while hitting .221 over the three matches. It was her third all-tournament accolade in three weeks this season.
Dayton's offense was led by Turner's 15 kills.
Navy will open its Patriot League season Friday at Lafayette.
