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ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" Great passing by the Navy volleyball team led to the Mids having an effective hitting night and their winning a three-set decision over Loyola Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Mids (15-5, 5-3 Patriot League) won their fourth match in a row with the 25-18, 25-10, 25-18 victory over the Greyhounds (4-15, 1-7).

"Loyola is just a really good, young, scary team, with really good arms," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, who has guided the Mids to a 12-6 record in league play and a 22-8 overall record since mid-October 2015. "Fortunately for us we served real well and they (Loyola) had an off passing day. I thought our players handled things real well fundamentally. We were able to get a requisite number of good touches off their attacks. We didn't block too many balls, but we slowed enough up to allow us to get some good swings ourselves."

The match could not have started any better for Navy as Patricia Mattingly (So., New Albany, Ind.) served the Mids to a 6-0 lead in the first set. Loyola had a ball-handling error on the first point, with back-to-back aces from Mattingly following. A Loyola attack error made the score 4-0, then Mattingly set Dorothy Murray (Jr., Harbor City, Calif.) for a kill before another attack error by the Greyhounds closed out the opening spurt.

"Just to send that message that were going to serve the ball real hard and we were going to get digs is great at the start of the match," said Bock.

Loyola winnowed the deficit down to as few as four points at 17-13, then the teams traded the next eight points to make the score 21-17 in favor of the Mids. Mattingly would set Gaby Smith (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) for a kill, then Smith delivered an ace of her own to give Navy a 23-17 lead and result in a Loyola timeout. Another bad set by the Greyhounds after the break took Navy to set point, which they converted on their second opportunity when Mattingly set Katie Patrick (So., Aurora, Colo.) for a kill.

Mattingly was again at the service line when Navy separated from Loyola in the middle of the second set. She herself notched a kill to give the serve to the Mids with a 10-8 lead. Her last serve came with Navy holding a 21-8 lead. The Mids would hit .280 in the second set while limiting the Greyhounds to a (-).115 percentage.

The third and what would turn out to be the final set of the afternoon saw the teams within a few points of each other for just over the first half of the frame. The score was tied seven times and the lead changed hands twice during that time. Navy held a 16-13 lead when it went on a 3-0 run on a Loyola attack error, a kill by Smith and another Loyola hitting miscue. The Greyhounds sliced the 19-13 deficit down to 19-15 when Paige Miles (Fr., Tulsa, Okla.) registered the 20th point of the set for the Mids on a kill. Miles, who started the third stanza at setter in place of Mattingly, then fed Tara Dotzauer (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) for a kill to give Navy a 21-15 advantage. Loyola scored the ensuing two points, then a kill by Olivia Rozmus (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) and a Loyola attack error gave Navy a 23-17 lead. Loyola scored the next point on a kill, but that was followed by another Dotzauer kill and an ace from Sydney Shearn (So., Louisville, Ky.) to cap the 70-minute match.

Navy totaled 37 kills and a .315 attack percentage while holding Loyola to 25 kills and a .095 hitting night. The Mids also had more success from the service line than the Greyhounds. Navy registered six aces and five errors while Loyola had one ace and nine service errors. Navy additionally held a 35-18 edge in digs and a 4-2 advantage in blocks.

The Mids were able to successfully sideout on 76 percent of the serves by the Greyhounds (77%, 72%, 77%, respectively by set), who registered a sideout on 47 percent of Navy's serves (56%, 29%, 56%). Mattingly registered a point for the Mids on 17 of her 21 serves in her two sets of playing time.

Thirteen different Mids tallied at least one kill, with Smith's seven and six from both Patrick and Murray leading all players on the team. Smith did not commit an attack error on any of her 13 swings to end the night with a .583 attack percentage, while both Patrick and Murray both hit at least .400 and as the duo combined for only four attack errors on 19 attempts. Also hitting well were Dotzauer with four kills and no errors on six attempts (.667) and Kelsey Kingsland (So., Blackwell, Mo.), who had four kills and no errors on five attempts (.800).

"The team had a great practice Friday night," said Bock. "Based upon that, we felt we could go real deep into the lineup today and receive good swings. So much of the success by our hitters is due to the passing and the setting, and our setters are really good. That's going to translate into good hitting."

Navy's strong offensive night came as a result of good passing by the Mids. Olivia Kluger (Jr., Carmel, Ind.) had 13 digs, Shearn had nine digs â€"â€" plus two kills â€"â€" Mattingly grabbed five digs and Smith had four. Additionally for the Navy defense, Patrick had a hand in three of the team's four blocks.

"Our passers take things very seriously," said Bock. "They work very hard at it and spend a lot of time in practice with that skill. Hopefully our passing as well as our serving is rounding into shape as we head into the second cycle of the league season.

"Sydney is special. When she gets it going, her play is comparable with anyone."

Loyola's Ann Ernst led all players in the match with eight kills, but the Mids limited her to just a .069 attack percentage.

Navy will play six of its remaining eight matches on the road. That span begins with matches Oct. 21 at Bucknell and Oct. 22 at Lehigh.

Patriot League Standings (Top 4 make the playoffs)
1. 8-0 American
T2. 6-2 Army West Point (Army holds tiebreaker over Colgate)
T2. 6-2 Colgate
T4. 5-3 Lehigh (Lehigh holds tiebreaker over Navy)
T4. 5-3 Navy
T6. 2-6 Holy Cross (Holy Cross holds tiebreaker over Bucknell)
T6. 2-6 Bucknell
T8. 1-7 Lafayette (Lafayette holds tiebreaker over Loyola)
T8. 1-7 Loyola