Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" A strong serving effort that included four aces in each of the three sets ignited the Navy volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-16) victory over Lafayette Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House. The win was Navy's second sweep in less than 24 hours (defeated Loyola Friday night).

"Our serving and our setting were the keys today," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, who with the victory became the first coach in NCAA history to record 1,300 career wins as a women's volleyball coach as well as 1,400 career wins as a collegiate volleyball coach (had 100 wins as the men's coach at Juniata). "Our serving was really 'on' today and we scored points off of it even when we didn't come up with an ace. And I thought Patricia Mattingly (Fr., New Albany, Ind.) did a real nice job at setter."

The first set was tied seven times, with a 12-12 score being what would prove to be the final tie of the set. Navy (4-17, 2-6 Patriot League) broke the tie when Mattingly found middle hitter Hannah Hirzel (Fr., Fullerton, Calif.) for a kill, then a Lafayette (10-9, 2-6) attack error gave the Mids a 14-12 lead. The margin grew to 15-12 on an ace by Darby Minton (Fr., Chino Hills, Calif.), then became 16-12 when Mattingly set middle hitter Katie Patrick (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) for another kill.

Lafayette called timeout, but the run by the Mids continued after the break on a bad set by the Leopards and another ace by Minton. Navy's lead eventually grew to seven points at 23-16 before Lafayette chipped away slightly toward the end of the set.

Navy quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Lafayette at the start of the second set. Two of those four points were courtesy of aces by Maggie Phillips (So., Leesburg, Va.). The Mids slowly extended their advantage out to 8-3, 10-5, and 14-9 before building a 17-11 cushion. From there, the Leopards could only cut the margin down to four points at 18-14, but a kill by Dorothy Murray (So., Harbor City, Calif.) and a third ace from Phillips pushed the lead back out to 20-14.

Bock made a few adjustments to the lineup at the start of the third set. Five of Navy's seven players (six starters plus the libero) who took to the court at the beginning of the frame were freshmen, but one of two remaining players on the court â€"â€" the junior Smith â€"â€" recorded a kill, a solo block and another kill to get the Mids off to a quick 3-0 lead. Lafayette closed to within one point of Navy on three occasions, with the last coming at 5-4. A kill by Mattingly and an ace from Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) sparked a 4-1 spurt that gave the Mids a 9-5 lead.

The Leopards soon cut the deficit down to one point for a fourth time at 10-9. Navy answered with a kill by Smith, with a pair of attack errors by Lafayette coming on the ensuing two points to give the Mids a 13-9 lead. Three successive sideouts made the score 14-11 in favor of the Mids, but another Lafayette attack error and a block by the tandem of Mattingly and Patrick gave Navy a 16-11 lead.

The Mids soon held an 18-14 advantage when Olivia Kluger (So., Carmel, Ind.) posted her third kill in five plays for Navy. That was followed by an ace by Mattingly, two more kills by Kluger and another ace by Mattingly. Those efforts combined to boost Navy's lead out to 23-15, which allowed the Mids to soon close out the match with several sideouts.

"This team is clearly growing up," said Bock. "We have faced every imaginable situation this year, so we are becoming more and more comfortable in a lot of competitive scenarios.

"It is really nice to look out on the court and seeing this team enjoy competing."

Not only did Navy tie a season high with 12 service aces, it did so while committing only seven service errors. On the other side of the net, Lafayette recorded four aces and had seven service errors.

In addition to serving well, Navy also was very successful at scoring on Lafayette's serve. The Mids recorded a sideout on 83 percent of the serves by the Leopards in the second set and on 76 percent of their offerings in the third set. Conversely, Lafayette recorded a sideout point on an average of 55 percent of Navy's serves over the course of the last two frames.

Navy as a team posted 35 kills, hit .194, snared 48 digs and recorded a season-best 9 team blocks in the match. Meanwhile, Lafayette concluded the contest with 29 kills, a .121 attack percentage, 43 digs and 8 blocks.

"Everybody served well today," said Bock. "We are capable of having matches such as this. That bodes well for our future success. And averaging three blocks a set really helped out, too."

Navy had great balance throughout its lineup in a number of statistical categories. Six Mids had at least four kills, five had at least two aces, three snared at least 11 digs and four had at least one block.

Smith led the Mids in kills with eight, in digs with 13 and in blocks with four (all solo blocks). Patrick added seven kills and three blocks and Shearn posted 11 digs. Meanwhile, Mattingly dished out 30 assists, dropped in three aces and tallied three block assists.

"Patricia ran a great offense," said Bock. "She had really good location with her hitters. She was very, very good."

Lafayette's offense was led by Elizabeth Walsh's eight kills, while Lauren Pisaro grabbed 11 digs and Katherine Stevens registered five blocks.

Navy will open the second half of Patriot League play with matches at home on Oct. 23 against Lehigh and the following day against Bucknell. The Mids lost to the Mountain Hawks in four sets and dropped a five-set decision to the Bison earlier this year.