Sept. 19, 2014 Final Stats
EASTON, Pa. - Strong finishes to each set keyed the Navy volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Lafayette Friday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. The 25-21, 25-12, 25-18 victory by the Mids improved their overall record on the season to 4-6, while the loss dropped the record for the Leopards to 3-10.
The match served as the Patriot League opener for Navy and was the second league match for the Leopards (0-2) in three days.
"We did a good job of serving tonight," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, who is now 3-1 in Patriot League opening matches in his four years. "That allowed us to put some pressure on their passers and try to slow down their offense."
The Mids had a slow start to the match as the Leopards jumped out to leads of 4-1 and 7-2. Navy quickly climbed back into the frame and soon a 3-0 run gave it a 12-11 lead. The score would soon be tied at 14-14 when three-straight errors on the Lafayette side of the net and a kill by Maggie Phillips (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) gave the Mids an 18-14 advantage. After a Lafayette point, Navy went on another 3-0 run to build a 21-15 lead. The teams split the ensuing four points to give the Mids a 23-17 lead, but the Leopards answered with a 4-0 run of their own to close to within 23-21 and result in Bock calling timeout.
The Mids went to the middle coming out of the break and Alex Cassel (Sr., Sandy, Utah) notched a kill to take them to set point. A Lafayette attack error would give Navy the first set.
Lafayette actually posted more kills than Navy during the opening set, 13-10, but the Leopards recorded six attack errors to just two for the Mids. That gave Navy a slim .258-.233 edge in hitting percentage.
The second set started off close as Navy held just an 8-6 lead early on, but the Mids soon built a 12-6 advantage. Navy's cushion was down to 13-9 when it broke the game open by scoring the next eight points to take a 21-9 lead. The Leopards recorded back-to-back points to pull to within 10 points of the Mids, but a quick 3-0 burst by Navy took it to set point which it converted on its second opportunity.
Navy knocked down only nine kills and committed six attack errors to hit just .120 in the set, but Lafayette tallied four kills and eight attack errors to hit -.138.
The score for much of the third set resembled the score in the first set. Lafayette took leads of 3-1, 7-2 and 13-11 before Navy used a 4-0 run to take a 15-13 lead. The teams promptly traded points for a short while to make the score 19-17 in favor of the Mids. A Lafayette service error, a Lafayette attack error and another kill by Cassel boosted Navy's lead out to 22-17. A kill by the Leopards gave the serve back to them, but that tally was followed by a service error of their own a kill by Rachel Fortner (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) and a kill by Gaby Smith (So., Virginia Beach, Va.), which closed out both the set and the match.
Navy's offense totaled 30 kills (13 errors) and hit .202 on the night, while its defense limited Lafayette to 25 kills (17 errors) and a .095 hitting percentage. The Mids also accrued eight aces and six service errors to six aces and nine service errors for the Leopards.
Cassel had a strong all-around match for the Mids as she produced eight kills, five digs, three blocks and a .333 attack percentage. Also playing well was Phillips, who tallied seven kills, two blocks and a .333 attack percentage.
"The numbers for Alex and Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) may look a little low," said Bock, "but they were right in the middle of our being able to dig ourselves back into both the first and third sets. We especially gave Katie some very aggressive sets to hit away from the net.
"Both of our left-side hitters in Maggie and Gaby also had good nights for us."
Sylakowski had six kills, while Smith had four kills and did not commit an attack error to hit .286.
Defensively for the Mids, Maeve Drummey (Jr., Silver Spring, Md.) snared a team-high 11 digs.
For Lafayette, both Katy Rooney and Jet Manzi had six kills to lead its offense.
Navy will open the home portion of the Patriot League season Sept. 26 when the Mids play host to Lehigh and Sept. 27 when Navy faces Bucknell in Annapolis.
