Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" Army West Point rallied in each of the three sets to record a narrow 25-23, 27-25, 25-23 victory over the Navy volleyball team Friday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

"We failed to finish," said Navy head coach Larry Bock.

Navy (6-20, 4-9 Patriot League) jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first set, only to see the Black Knights (19-7, 11-3) take a 13-12 lead. The lead changed hands several times until the Black Knights eventually took a 23-20 lead. Back came the Mids to tie the score at 23-23 on an Army West Point service error and attack error and an ace by Navy's Patricia Mattingly (Fr., New Albany, Ind.). After a timeout by the visitors, Carolyn Bockrath knocked down a kill for the Black Knights, then a tough serve receive by the Mids led to a Dorothy Murray (So., Harbor City, Calif.) attack error to end the first set.

Navy would take a 21-16 lead in the second set, but Army West Point tied the frame at 21-21. Back-to-back points by the Mids gave them a 23-21 lead, then consecutive sideouts made the score 24-22 in favor of Navy. A Bockrath kill staved off one set point, then a kill by Vanessa Edwards knotted the score again at 24-24. Navy took a 25-24 lead on an Army West Point attack error, but failed on its third set point opportunity when the Black Knights posted another kill. That was followed by a Navy attack error and a kill by the Black Knights to close out the frame.

The Mids again had a great start to the third set as they quickly took a 10-4 lead on their way to take a 20-16 advantage. Serve receive struggles by the Mids again allowed the Black Knights back into the set, which they eventually tied at 22-22 before taking a 23-22 lead. Murray posted a kill to tie the score at 23-23, but a poor connection from Mattingly to a hitter and then an Army West Point kill off of a Navy block attempt ended the contest.

"This was a mirror image of last year's match here in Alumni Hall," said Bock. "Last year we rallied in each of the three sets to win each by two points, and tonight we were on the other end of it.

"Our first contacts were not as clean as they needed to be, which was due in no small part to Army's serving. That, and some struggles in connections with our hitters spelled the difference in the match. All of the little things are magnified with the difference is a total of six points."

Army West Point held a 41-30 advantage over Navy in kills and, thanks to an 11-4 edge in blocks, also outhit the Mids, .148-.050. Navy held slim advantages in aces (8-4) and only committed four service errors to 11 for the Black Knights.

Katie Patrick (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) led Navy with eight kills and three blocks, while Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) snared 18 digs for the Mids.

Army West Point's Olivia Fairfield led all players with 11 kills.

Navy will conclude the home portion of its season Saturday by playing host to Holy Cross at 4 p.m. in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.