Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" The Navy volleyball team ran its winning streak to three matches in a row with a four-set (25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23) victory over Lehigh Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The score was tied 41 times during the course of the nearly two-hour match and the lead changed hands on 15 occasions.

"This was a very important win for us against an extremely good team," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "We came into tonight after a week of really good practices.

"This team has been searching for itself all year. Gradually, we are getting closer to finding it. There is still a long ways to go in that search, but this team just keeps scratching and clawing out there. If we can continue this upward trajectory, we can be a pretty solid ball club."

The score in the first set was knotted at 15-15 when a 3-0 run by Navy (5-17, 3-6 Patriot League) gave the Mids an 18-15 lead. The latter two of those three points were courtesy of solo blocks by Katie Patrick (Fr., Aurora, Colo.). After several sideouts, Lehigh (14-11, 6-4) closed to within one point of Navy at 20-19, 21-20 and 22-21. Navy setter Patricia Mattingly (Fr., New Albany, Ind.) found Dorothy Murray (So., Harbor City, Calif.) for a kill, then consecutive Lehigh attack errors closed out the opening frame in favor of the Mids.

Both Murray and Patrick keyed Navy's offense in the first set. Murray totaled six kills and one error on 10 swings (.600 attack percentage), while Patrick had six kills and zero errors on seven attempts (.857). Those efforts boosted Navy to a .351 hitting percentage.

The second set was very similar to the first as neither team was able to separate from the other. The score was tied 15 times and there were seven lead changes in the frame. What would prove to be the last tie came at 20-20. Maggie Phillips (So., Leesburg, Va.) knocked down a kill for the Mids to break the tie, then she teamed up with Hannah Hirzel (Fr., Fullerton, Calif.) for a block to give Navy a 22-20 lead. The margin soon to three points when a Lehigh blocking error on an attempt by Murray made the score 23-20, after which Lehigh called its second timeout. After the break the Mountain Hawks gained a point on a kill, which led to a Navy timeout. Mattingly went back to Murray and she connected on a kill to take the Mids to set point, which they converted when Phillips dropped in a service ace.

Lehigh quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead at the start of the third set, but just as fast Navy tied the score at 5-5. The Mountain Hawks again built a little lead at 11-7 only to see the Mids tie it again at 13-13. Lehigh would tally seven of the next eight points to take a 20-14 lead and finally gain some breathing room, which it maintained over the remainder of the set.

The fourth set would be tied 12 times, but feature only three lead changes. Navy held a 10-6 lead in the early going before Lehigh tied the score at 12-12. The teams kept siding out until the Mountain Hawks took a 16-15 lead, which was followed by back-to-back points from the Mids. Navy eventually took two-point leads at 19-17 and 20-18 only to see Lehigh tie the score at 20-20.

After a Navy timeout, Phillips, who was blocked on the previous play, posted a kill to break the tie. Lehigh's Whitney Krantz promptly tied the set again, but an attack error by her teammate Leah Turner on the next point boosted Navy to a 22-21 lead. That was followed by a Murray kill to make the score 23-21 in favor of the Mids and result in the second Lehigh timeout being called.

The break in the action stemmed Navy's run as a Turner kill sliced the margin in half. A lengthy point ensued and included a scramble for the Mids that led to Mattingly being on the receiving end of a set from Gaby Smith (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.), which she dropped over the next and into an open space to give the Mids a 24-22 lead. Mattingly then went to Murray on the next point and her match-winning attempt down the right sideline was just wide, which led to Bock using his second timeout with the score being 24-23. After Lehigh served, the ball was batted back-and-forth across the net a couple of times before Turner sent an attempt wide to give the Mids the victory.

Both teams struggled to score on their respective serves, especially in the fourth set. Navy sided out at a rate of 78 percent in the frame and 63 percent for the night, while Lehigh notched a sideout on 72 percent of Navy's serves in the last set and on 61 percent of the time during the match.

"Siding out was the match," said Bock. "It seemed whenever there was a critical juncture throughout the match, we were able to come up with one."

Navy held slight leads over Lehigh in kills (51-45), hitting percentage (.198-.169) and digs (57-52), while the Mountain Hawks had the advantage over Navy in aces (5-4), service errors (10-14) and blocks (10-9).

"Our blocking was a positive tonight," said Bock. "We were not overwhelmed as we were the first time we played Lehigh (blocks were 8-1 in favor of Lehigh when the Mountain Hawks defeated the Mids in four sets earlier this season)."

Murray ended the night with a match-high 17 kills. She also hit .306 for the evening. Patrick notched 12 kills and just one error on 16 attempts for a .524 attack percentage. Her fellow middle hitter Hirzel shared Navy's net defense lead with Phillips as each accrued four blocks. Phillips also added 10 kills and a pair of aces. Mattingly, who was tabbed as this week's league rookie of the week, dished out 40 assists and grabbed a match-high 16 digs, while libero Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) snared 15 digs and handed out seven assists.

"Katie was a real force in the middle for us," said Bock, "and Dorothy is turning into a real weapon for us. Patricia played some outer-worldly defense tonight. She has so much on her plate, but is handling it so well."

Turner's 12 kills led the Lehigh offense, with Krantz adding 11 kills and a .458 attack percentage.

Navy will be back in action Saturday when the Mids play host to Bucknell in a 5:30 p.m. match.