Nov. 14, 2015 Final Stats
EASTON, Pa. â€"â€" The Navy volleyball team held Lafayette to a negative hitting percentage in a 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 victory by the Midshipmen over the Leopards Friday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.
"We served and passed the ball real well tonight," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "That made all of the difference."
Navy (8-20, 6-9 Patriot League) quickly jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first set. Lafayette (11-15, 3-12) whittled the margin down to three points at 13-10, but the Mids regained a little breathing room by stretching the score out to 18-11. Navy would hold a lead of at least five points over the remainder of the frame.
The second set was tied at 13-13 when the Mids scored five of the next six points to take an 18-14 advantage. After a sideout by the Leopards made it a three-point difference, Navy ran off the next four points to build a 22-15 cushion on its way to taking a 2-0 lead in sets.
The third set was very similar to the second as Lafayette held a 13-12 lead until a 5-0 run by Navy gave it an 18-13 advantage. The score would eventually be 19-15 in favor of the Mids when they accounted for four of the next five points to take a 23-16 lead.
Navy posted 30 kills and hit .159 in the 75-minute match while holding Lafayette to 20 kills and 22 attack errors, which added up to a -.023 percentage. Aiding Navy to that defensive effort was it dropping in 10 service aces to just two for the Leopards. Rachel Fortner (So., Villa Hills, Ky.) accounted for five of those aces, which brings her total to 11 over the last two matches.
Navy's Gaby Smith (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) just missed a double-double as she ended the night with nine kills â€"â€" and a .316 hitting percentage â€"â€" and 10 digs. She led all players in the match in kills and shared the team lead in digs with Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.).
"Gaby played exceptionally well," said Bock. "And I thought a real key to the match was Rachel's serving and passing. It also felt good to end a match with the same number of blocks as our opponents (five)."
The Mids, who have posted a 6-3 record in their last nine matches, will close their 2015 campaign with a Saturday afternoon match at Loyola. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. Live statistics and free live video from the match can be found at NavySports.com.
