Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Lehigh outhit the Navy volleyball team by nearly 200 points to help the Mountain Hawks post a 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-21) victory over the Midshipmen Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis, Md.

Lehigh improved its record to 5-0 in the Patriot League this season -- 15-1 in sets -- with the win while Navy fell to 1-1 in league play with the loss.

"Lehigh is playing very well right now," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "They played us real tough, especially with their ability to control the pass-serve aspect of the game."

The Mountain Hawks jumped all over the Mids at the start of the match, using a 7-1 run to build an early 9-3 advantage that carried them to the win. Lehigh hit .519 (15 kills, 1 error, 27 attempts) in the frame while Navy was limited to a mark of .138 (10-6-29).

Navy was within 11-9 of Lehigh in the second set when a 6-1 run by the Mountain Hawks boosted them out to a 17-10 lead that the Mids never really could slice into.

The third set was much closer as the score was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands on three occasions.

Navy held a late 21-19 lead until back-to-back points by Lehigh tied the score at 21-21. The ensuing point saw each team send the ball back over the net 10 times until a kill by Lehigh's Jade Van Streepen ended the marathon play. The Mountain Hawks would also tally the next three points to close out the match.

Despite the 3-0 score in sets, a good number of statistics between the teams were relatively close. Lehigh held a slight advantage in kills, 35-32; assists, 33-32; and digs, 45-43; with the teams each dropping in four service aces. However, Navy committed 23 attack errors and 10 service errors, while Lehigh accrued just nine attack errors and five service errors. Lehigh also recorded 8.5 team blocks to Navy's 3.0, which combined to help the Mountain Hawks hold a .280-.085 advantage in hitting percentage.

"There are a lot of little things we can go back to and say we have to clean up," said Bock. "It's just a ton of little things. We have to, certainly, control the ball better and do a much better job of organizing ourselves. We threw some curveballs at our team this week. I think they are handling it fine, but that may have shown up tonight."

Navy's middle hitters, Katie Sylakowski (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) and Alex Cassel (Jr., Sandy, Utah) combined for 13 kills and just 3 errors on 27 swings (.370), with outside hitter Tara Dotzauer (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) posting six kills and a .286 attack percentage. Defensively, Maeve Drummey (Jr., Silver Spring, Md.) snared 17 digs, setter Star Steele (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) recorded nine digs and Dotzauer added a pair of bocks.

"Our middle hitters were real good," said Bock, "and Tara had a strong night. I thought Maeve did a great job in the third set."

Stephanie Slater led Lehigh with eight kills.

Navy will be back in the Wesley A. Brown Field House Saturday for a noon match against Bucknell.