Final Stats

LEWISBURG, Pa. â€"â€" Bucknell scored the last five points of the fifth set to defeat the Navy volleyball team, 25-23, 26-28, 21-25, 25-22, 15-10, Friday night at Davis Gym in Lewisburg, Pa. The teams have now played three-straight five-set matches and five five-set matches in the last nine meetings.

"We just weren't able to consistently put the ball down," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "You are not going to win many matches hitting zero in the fifth set."

Navy (2-12, 0-1) struggled against the Bucknell (7-5, 1-1) block all night, and that included in the fifth set. The Bison notched three of their 19 blocks in the final set, with back-to-back blocks breaking what was a 10-10 tie. A Bucknell kill extended its lead to three points, and the margin soon became four on a Navy attack error. The Bison then closed out the over two-hour match with a kill.

Navy recorded eight kills and eight attack errors in the last set, while Bucknell tallied just four kills without an attack error in the final frame.

Bucknell turned a 13-12 lead in the first set into a 20-12 advantage, only to see the Mids tie the score at 21. After a pair of sideouts, the Bison scored consecutive points to take a two-point lead at 24-22. The Mids cut the margin in half only to see Bucknell tally the next point to win the frame.

Navy again trailed late in the second set, 21-18, 22-19 and 23-20. However, the Mids scored the next four points to take a 24-23 lead to serve for the set. Bucknell erased one set point and had two serves of its own to win the set which the Mids overcame to tie the score at 26.. Navy then scored back-to-back points to tie the match at one set each.

Bucknell used an 8-0 run midway through the third set to take an 18-11 lead. Navy winnowed that margin down to three points at 24-21 before the Bison recorded the next point to win the set.

Navy was the team to build a lead midway through the fourth set. A 4-0 spurt gave the Mids a 19-15 lead, which slowly grew to 22-17 before the Bison sliced it down to 22-20. Navy answered by scoring the next two points (24-20), only to see Bucknell tally consecutive points of its own (24-22). The Mids notched the next point to set the contest into a fifth set.

Navy held a sizeable 65 to 48 advantage over Bucknell in kills, as well as a 99 to 71 lead in digs and a 9-5 cushion in aces. But the Bucknell block allowed the Bison to hold a .150 to .112 advantage over Navy in hitting percentage. While the Bison were tallying 19 blocks, the Mids recorded just 7 blocks.

"It was a strong night for our defense," said Bock. "We grabbed a ton of digs and that kept us in the match. Offensively, we took good angles on the ball and went to the middle as we were able to."

Maggie Phillips (So., Leesburg, Va.) put up strong numbers on both offense and defense as she tallied 16 kills and 18 digs. Allison Latham (Jr., Merrimack, N.H.) recorded 10 kills and 4 blocks, while Tara Dotzauer (So., Raleigh, N.C.) added 12 kills. Sydney Shearn (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) snared a Navy-high 19 digs, Patricia Mattingly (Fr., New Albany, Ind.) dished out 27 assists while gathering in 11 digs and Star Steele (Sr., Tampa, Fla.) was credited with 28 assists.

Keying the Bucknell defense were Karen Campbell with five solo blocks and five block assists and Erika Eastley with nine block assists.

"As we become healthier and are able to increase our altitudes back to where they normally are at, our offense will come around," said Bock. "I trust that will happen. We are getting healthier and better each and every day."

Navy will play Lehigh Saturday at 4 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa. Links to live stats and live video will be available at NavySports.com.