Final Stats

LORETTO, Pa. â€"â€" Maggie Phillips (Jr., Leesburg, Va.) tied a personal season high with 10 kills to help lead the Navy volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Iona Friday evening in Loretto, Pa. The Mids (8-2) defeated the Gaels (1-10), 25-10, 25-20, 25-20, on day one of the Red Flash Classic on the Saint Francis U. campus.

Navy never trailed in the first set and jumped out to leads of 4-1, 7-3 and 14-4 on its way to cruising to the victory in the frame. The Mids hit .207 in the set and limited the Gaels to a mark of (-).120.

The remaining two sets were vastly different as the score was tied a combined 25 times in sets two and three and the lead was exchanged a total of 11 times.

Iona held the largest lead in the early part of the second set at 10-7, and it eventually held a 17-16 lead. Navy promptly ran off the next seven points to build a 23-17 advantage, which provided enough breathing room to close out the set.

The two offenses had their best respective hitting performance of the match in the second set as Navy hit .433 and Iona hit .351.

Neither team was able to gain any kind of cushion over the other through the majority of the third set. Just as was the case in the second set, Iona held a slim lead through 33 points. This time the Gaels were in front 18-15 when the Mids went on a 4-0 run to regain the lead. The score would be tied at both 19-19 and 20-20 when a kill by Tara Dotzauer (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) broke the tie and an ensuing ace by Emily Solis (Fr., Leesburg, Va.) gave Navy a 22-20 lead and resulted in an Iona timeout.

Sarena Seelbach (Fr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) posted a kill after the break to extend the lead to three points, then Phillips knocked down a kill to take the Mids to match point. The wait to convert that point didn't take long as Solis dropped in another ace to finish off the 80-minute match.

"I thought our team played a real clean first set," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, "then finished real well in the other two. It feels real good for this group to hang in, plug away, have the other team work hard and then slam the door. That's something we think will pay off in the end. Iona has good people and is better than its record. This was a nice win for us."

Navy posted a .283 attack percentage in the contest while Iona hit .176. Most additional statistics between the teams were fairly even or saw the Mids hold a slight advantage, except at the service line. Navy tallied seven aces and just four errors (+3) while Iona tallied two aces and 11 errors (-9).

Phillips had recorded 10 kills on two prior occasions this season, but both of those instances took place in four-set matches. Her 10 kills today were just two shy of tying the best three-set performance of her career. She also was one of six Mids to hit at least .300 in the match (.348). Other strong kill tallies were recorded by Dorothy Murray (Jr., Harbor City, Calif.), who notched six kills in just two sets of playing time, and by Gaby Smith (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.), who finished with five kills in her two sets. Additionally, Smith and Murray each were credited with a pair of blocks.

Sydney Shearn (So., Louisville, Ky.) led Navy's passers with 10 digs and tied Solis and Gabriela Martin (Fr., Columbus, Ohio) for the team lead with two aces. Setter Patricia Mattingly (So., New Albany, Ind.) handed out 32 assists and snared seven digs.

"Maggie was just in control offensively," said Bock. "The outside hitters as a whole played a good match. As a group, that is as good of a match our outside hitters have played in a while. We will need them to continue playing well."

Navy will play a pair of matches Saturday in Loretto. The Mids will face the tournament host at 1:30 p.m. before taking on Eastern Kentucky at 4:30 p.m. Links to free live statistics and free live video of both matches can be found at NavySports.com.