Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" The Navy volleyball team opened its 2016 season with a four-set victory over New Hampshire Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Mids, who lost to the Wildcats by the score of 19-17 in the fifth set one year ago, tallied a 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16 win over the 2013, '14 and '15 America East Conference Tournament champions.

"I thought our kids played a mature ball game," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "New Hampshire's game plan clearly was to be real aggressive with serving, and they were. That is as tough of a serve as we will see and it got us into trouble at time, but our passers pulled their heads together and handled that situation real well."

The Mids jumped out the starting blocks quickly by scoring seven of the first set's initial 10 points. The Wildcats closed to within two points at 14-12 and soon it was 16-14 in favor of the home team. A kill by Tara Dotzauer (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) returned the serve to Navy, then Olivia Kluger (Jr., Carmel, Ind.) stepped to the service line and stretched the lead out to 22-14. The Mids scored during that spree on an ace by Kluger, a kill and block by Maggie Phillips (Jr., Leesburg, Va.), another kill by Dotzauer, a kill by Katie Patrick (So., Aurora, Calif.) and a New Hampshire attack error.

Kluger also had served five-straight points for Navy earlier in the first set.

Navy again had a strong start to the second set. The Mids took a 10-4 lead in the early part of the frame before taking an 18-12 advantage later in the set. The Navy cushion winnowed to 18-14 before it became 22-18. Five consecutive kills by the Wildcats gave them a 23-22 lead, then an attack error and a poor set by the Mids allowed the visitors to close out the frame and even the proceedings at one set apiece.

The third set was the tightest of the night as the lead changed hands six times and the score was tied on 13 occasions. What would prove to be the last tie of the frame came when Gaby Smith (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) knocked down a kill for Navy to knot the score at 18-18. An error on the New Hampshire setter gave Navy a one-point lead, and it became two points on an attack error by the Wildcats. A kill by Dorothy Murray (Jr., Harbor City, Calif.), a block by the tandem of Murray and Patrick and a kill by Smith boosted the Mids out to a 23-18 lead and resulted in a timeout being called by New Hampshire.

Murray was blocked coming out of the stoppage in play, but a New Hampshire service error gave the serve back to the Mids with a 24-19 lead. Navy promptly claimed the third set on an attack error by the Wildcats.

"Dorothy was real a real nice injection in set three," said Bock. "You could feel the energy started to sag a little, but she came in and picked it back up."

Navy played its most complete set of the contest in the fourth set. The Mids built leads of 5-1, 12-6 and 19-10 on their way to closing out the match.

New Hampshire totaled more kills than Navy did on the night, 42-37, but the Mids recorded 58 digs and 15.0 blocks to 53 and 4.0, respectively, for the Wildcats. Additionally, Navy totaled six service aces and six service errors on the night, while New Hampshire posted five aces and 15 errors from the service line.

"It is so nice to have blocks," said Bock. "To have 15 blocks is back to where we should be. It started picking up last spring. (Assistant coach) Jeremy Sands is a blocking guy. You could see and feel his presence starting last spring. We are a year older and wiser and better.

"(Assistant coach) Steph Strauss brought up in between sets three and four that we were in the same darn position against New Hampshire at this point in our match a year ago (with a 2-1 lead in sets). She said for us to handle this like a real mature volleyball team, be patient and be smart. And we did."

Phillips led the Navy offense with 10 kills, with Smith posting eight kills and Murray adding six kills on 11 swings. Libero Sydney Shearn (So., Louisville, Ky.) led all players on the night with 18 digs, while setter Patricia Mattingly (So., New Albany, Ind.) posted a double-double of 30 kills and 12 digs and Kluger snared 10 digs. Five Mids finished the evening with multiple blocks. Patrick paced all players with seven, Phillips was part of five blocks, Gabriela Martin (Fr., Columbus, Ohio) had five and Mattingly tallied two blocks.

"This team can play," said Bock. "We are at step four and we need to get to step 128, but there is enough good stuff showing up that we think we can keep building."

New Hampshire's Emily Tanski had a double-double of her own with 13 kills and 11 digs.

Navy will be back in action Saturday with matches against Coppin State (11 a.m.) and Delaware (6:30 p.m.) on day two of the Kristen Dickmann Invitational. The additional matches feature Delaware against New Hampshire at 1 p.m. and the Wildcats against Coppin State at 4:30 p.m.