Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. ---- The depth of the Navy volleyball team helped the Mids post a three-set victory over Lafayette Tuesday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. Fourteen Mids (14-5, 4-3 Patriot League) totaled at least one kill in the 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 victory over the Leopards (3-14, 1-6).

"Lafayette is nearly impossible to game plan for," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "They do a lot of innovative things on the floor and they play really hard. The minute you let up against them, they become very dangerous. I thought our team, and in particular when we utilized our depth, was really good at keeping the offensive pressure on high."

The first set was tied at 8-8 when the Mids seemingly took control of the frame with a 13-5 run that gave them a 21-13 cushion. The Leopards responded with a 7-0 run of their own to close to within one point at 21-20. Navy middle hitter Sarena Seelbach (Fr., Chapel Hill, N.C.), who made the first start of her career this evening, knocked down a kill to make it a two-point lead. After a miscue with the ball by the Mids on the next point (22-21), Seelbach recorded another kill to give them a 23-21 lead. An attack error by Lafayette gave Navy a 24-21 lead and three set points, but back-to-back attack errors by the Mids erased the first two opportunities they had to win the set. Seelbach posted another kill on the next point to close out the frame.

Navy tried to put some space between it and Lafayette in the middle part of the second set, but the Mids never could fully build a cushion until the very end. The score was tied at 10-10, Navy took a 14-10 lead, the advantage was sliced down to 15-13 and then grew to 20-14. Three-straight points by the Leopards made the score 20-17 when Seelback contributed another kill. That was followed by a service ace from teammate Ally Spencer (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) that made the score 22-17. The teams played sideout volleyball over the remainder of the stanza as Navy took a 2-0 lead.

The Mids jumped out to a 9-3 lead at the start of the third set and maintained an advantage of between four (11-7) and eight (23-15) points until a 4-0 run by the Leopards pulled them to within 23-19. Sofia Hruby (Fr., Austin, Texas) tallied a kill for the Mids then, after a block by the Lafayette, Olivia Rozmus (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) notched a kill to conclude the proceedings.

Navy totaled 44 kills and a .179 attack percentage while limiting Lafayette to 26 kills and a .124 attack percentage. Lafayette held a 9-4 advantage in blocks, which in part accounted for the 23 attack errors by the Mids while the Leopards had just 14 errors.

The Mids also totaled seven service aces and 53 digs, with the Leopards tallying four aces and 40 digs.

"We just had a lot more kills," said Bock. "A lot of them came in transition off of digs. We scrambled real well. Our middle hitters were really active, which is why we were able to get them the ball in those quick attack situations. It is really important to this team that we continue to do just that in future matches.

"We were outblocked again. We have to get to better place with our own blocking. I think that will come."

Seelbach led the Mids this evening with 10 kills and two service aces. Her effort comes one match after she posted 14 kills in playing just the last three sets of Navy's five-set victory over Holy Cross on Saturday. She had those 10 kills and one attack error on 17 swings (.529).

"Clearly Sarena is becoming an offensive force out there," said Bock.

Dotzauer also had a strong match as she rallied eight kills and hit .211 while playing in just sets one and two against the Leopards, while both Hruby (played in just set three) and Shelby McCool (Jr., Eugene, Ore.) had five kills and hit over .300.

Defensively, setter Patricia Mattingly (So., New Albany, Ind.) led Navy in digs for the second match in a row with her 16 digs in two full sets of playing time this evening. Mattingly also dished out 27 assists tonight. Joining her in double figures was Sydney Shearn (So., Louisville, Ky.) with 11, while Darby Minton (So., Chino Hills, Calif.) had eight digs.

"I think our liberos, Sydney and Darby, are really good when we are out of the offense and they are forced to make the set because Patricia gets a dig," said Bock. "We are going to take digs from whomever can get us one, and we have confidence in the ability of others to get us a good swing."

Tori Smith's six kills led the Lafayette offense, while Katrina Ruggiero had 14 digs for the Leopards and both Katie Rethmeyer and Kelly Flynn had four blocks.

Navy will close out a four-match homestand as well as the first half of the Patriot League season Saturday when the Mids play host to Loyola at 4 p.m.