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ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" A strong start and equally strong finish led the Navy volleyball team to a four-set â€"â€" 25-18, 26-28, 25-15, 27-25 â€"â€" victory over Holy Cross Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.

"What a gutty performance by our team," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "They battled through exams all week long and then left their hearts out on the Alumni Hall court Friday night (when Navy lost a 25-23, 27-25, 25-23 decision to Army). But they displayed a lot of character and pride in picking themselves up off the floor at the start of the today's match and then again multiple times during the afternoon. The way we played the first set was something we will put in a treasure chest."

Navy (7-20, 5-9 Patriot League) took the lead from Holy Cross (7-20, 4-10) for good in the first set when a 3-0 run by the Mids gave them a 9-6 lead. But that lead was a precarious one of a meager amount of points for most of the majority of the frame. The cushion was just one point at 15-14 when a Holy Cross service error gave the Mids a two-point lead. Rachel Fortner (So., Villa Hills, Ky.) dropped back to the service line for the Mids and she registered an ace, a tough serve that directly led to a Navy block and another ace to give Navy a 19-14 lead. Holy Cross tallied back-to-back points to make it a three-point difference, but four-straight Navy kills â€"â€" by Patricia Mattingly (Fr., New Albany, Ind.), Katie Patrick (Fr., Aurora, Colo.), Fortner and another by the setter Mattingly â€"â€" allowed the Mids to finally separate from the Crusaders.

The second set was similar to the first in that Navy held a slim lead before taking a 22-17 advantage. Holy Cross quickly cut into the deficit and tied the score at 23-23. The teams traded kills over the ensuing four points to make it 25-25, then a Navy attack error gave Holy Cross its first set point opportunity. That was erased on a service error by the Crusaders, but a service error by the Mids gave the visitors a second chance. This time they converted it on a kill.

Navy put together its best set of the match in set number three. The score was knotted at 6-6 when a 4-0 run by the Mids was the opening to a 16-5 spurt that boosted them out to a 22-11 lead. The Mids outhit the Crusaders in the set, .306-.031, to take a 2-1 advantage.

"The team really regrouped at halftime after losing the second set," said Bock.

The Mids would have to dig deep once again in the fourth set, which saw the score tied 15 times and the lead change hands six times. Holy Cross took a 17-14 lead and, with the teams pretty much playing sideout volleyball over the next few points, went on to hold a 21-18 advantage. A pair of attack errors by the Crusaders followed by a solo block by Kelsey Kingsland (Fr., Blackwell, Mo.) allowed the Mids to tie the score, then a kill from Gaby Smith (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) capped a 4-0 run that gave them a 23-22 lead.

A Holy Cross kill tied the score, but Navy earned the next two points on a solo block from Kingsland and a tandem block by Kingsland and Smith. That gave the Mids a 24-22 lead and the chance to serve for the match. Mandy Sifferlen posted a kill for the Crusaders and then a service ace to tie the score at 24-24. Murray then committed an attack error to give Holy Cross a 25-24 lead and the chance to serve for the set. Smith answered with a kill, then a Holy Cross attack error gave Navy a 26-25 lead and the Mids a third chance to serve for the match. After the serve was returned to the Navy side of the court, Maggie Phillips (So., Leesburg, Va.) went up for an attempt on the far left side of the court. Her attack went off the double block put up by the Crusaders and sailed back over her head, falling out of bounds by just a few inches to close out the proceedings.

Navy outhit Holy Cross in the match, .197-.148, thanks to a 57-43 advantage in kills and a 71-53 edge in digs, both of which helped to negate a 10-7 lead by the Crusaders in blocks. Navy also won the battle of the service line as the Mids registered 11 aces and 11 errors while the Crusaders posted four aces and 13 errors.

Murray knocked down 15 kills and hit .310 in the match to lead the Mids in both categories. Smith had a strong all-around game as she registered 11 kills, 14 digs and three blocks. Kingsland only played the final two sets, but she tallied four kills and three blocks in her limited court time. Additionally, Forther dropped in six of Navy's 11 aces, Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) snared 23 digs and Mattingly ended the night with 48 assists, seven digs, five kills and two blocks.

"Kelsey provided a real boost for us in a lot of ways," said Bock. "Sydney averaged six digs a set this weekend, which is out of this world for a libero. Obviously Dorothy hit the ball real well, but making her effort more impressive was that she recorded kills seemingly whenever we really needed one."

Sifferlen led Holy Cross with 13 kills, but she hit just .109 in the match. Her teammate, Lynsey Petersen, also reached double figures in kills with 12, but she was held to a .095 hitting percentage. In the first match of the year between the teams â€"â€" a five-set win by the Crusaders â€"â€" Sifferlen totaled 22 kills and a .348 hitting percentage while Petersen posted 15 kills and hit .156.

"To hold Sifferln to anything below .200 is a great defensive effort," said Bock.

Navy will close its 2015 season with matches at Lafayette on Nov. 13 and at Loyola on Nov. 14. A pair of wins would result in Navy â€"â€" which placed one senior, one junior, three sophomores and six freshmen onto the court today â€"â€" finishing no worse than in a tie for fifth place in the final Patriot League standings.

"We have been taking the approach that each match is a season unto itself, and we will continue with that over the next week," said Bock. "We are really compartmentalizing things as best as we can.

"I think you saw the team galvanize today to play for Maeve Drummey (Sr., Silver Spring, Md.). They really wanted to leave our homecourt a winner in her last match here. I also think we are going to see that over the next week."