Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" Gaby Smith's (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) season-high 13 kills helped spark the Navy volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) victory over Loyola Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.

"We have been waiting to put together a pretty consistent match like this for awhile," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Good starts to the first two sets really helped us. We let Loyola back into the first set a little and then had a hard time getting that last little push to fully separate in the third set. Those are signs of our being such a young team, but a sign of a maturing team is what we did late in the third set when the score was tight.

"A huge boost to our team was the crowd (nearly 600), specifically all of the Mids who were here and really into the match from the first point to the last. We fed off of their enthusiasm and they added points to the scoreboard for us."

Navy (3-17, 1-6 Patriot League) trailed Loyola (6-17, 1-7 Patriot League) by as many as three points early in the first set before taking a 12-10 lead. The Mids then ran off the next seven points to take a 19-10 advantage. The Greyhounds quickly chipped away at their deficit and soon closed to within 22-18. Smith took Navy to 23 points on a kill, then a Loyola attack error gave the Mids a 24-18 lead. Dorothy Murray (So., Harbor City, Calif.) followed with her fourth kill of the opening frame to give Navy a 1-0 lead.

Smith played a key role in Navy's being able to jump out to a 12-3 lead at the start of the second set. A solo block by the 5-7 outside hitter gave the Mids a 2-1 lead, then she notched kills to give the Mids 4-1 and 6-2 leads, respectively. She stepped to the service line after her latter kill and promptly recorded an ace, then the Mids scored on each of her next four service offerings. Navy was able to expand its lead out to as many as 15 points at 22-7 to take a 2-0 advantage in sets.

The score was tied a total of six times in the first two sets and the lead changed hands three times in those frames. The third set alone would see the score knotted seven times and lead switch three times.

Navy held a 19-18 lead when Smith posted a kill to make the margin two points, then an attack error by the Greyhounds pushed it out to 21-18 and led to a Loyola timeout. A Navy service error sliced the difference down to two points, but a Smith kill and a Smith ace on back-to-back plays made the score 23-19 in favor of the Mids and result in another Loyola stoppage in play.

The break worked as the Greyhounds winnowed the Navy lead in half on a kill and block. Katie Patrick (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) recorded a kill on the next point to give Navy point No. 24, but a Loyola block staved off the first chance for the Mids to win the match. Navy would convert on its second opportunity when Maggie Phillips (So., Leesburg, Va.) dropped a kill into the opposite corner of the court.

"When we kept Loyola out of system," said Bock, "good things happened for us."

Navy held advantages over Loyola in kills (37-23), hitting percentage (.202-.000), aces (6-3) and digs (29-21), while the Greyhounds recorded 6 blocks to 4 for the Mids.

Smith, who has been injured for most of the 2015 season, bettered her previous high for kills this year by one (previous high of 12 came in a four-set match) while adding a season-high attack percentage of .478. She also contributed two aces, four digs and a pair of blocks.

Patrick also had a statistically sound night as she posted six kills and zero attack errors on 11 swings for a .545 hitting percentage. That offensive performance was in addition to her tallying a trio of blocks. Further aiding the Navy offense were Phillips and Murray with eight kills apiece, while Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) scooped up a match-best 10 digs.

"Gaby did a good job of hitting us out of trouble," said Bock, "and Katie was a force in the middle."

Loyola offense was led by Haley Puddy's nine kills.

Navy will be back on the Wesley A. Brown Field House court Saturday at 4 p.m. when it plays host to Lafayette.

"It is nice to get the taste of winning again," said Bock. "This team needed to feel success after all of the close matches we have come up short in. But this match is over with and now we have to carry through tonight's effort and performance into tomorrow and our remaining matches."