Final Stats

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- Hitting struggles in sets three and four by the Navy volleyball team led to the Mids dropping a four-set decision to Colgate Friday night at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y. The Raiders (6-8, 2-1 Patriot League) defeated the Mids (11-4, 1-2), 25-23, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-17.

"We ran into a rough patch in the middle of sets three and four and never recovered," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "It was very similar to our match last week against Lehigh (also a 3-1 loss by the Mids). We again struggled in first contacts, and that led us to having hitting problems."

Neither team was able to distance themselves from the other in both sets one and two. The opening frame was tied eight times, including at 23-23, when a Colgate kill and a Navy attack error gave the Raiders the first set. The Mids then held a 24-21 lead in the second set only to see Colgate rally and close to within one point at 24-23 before a Dorothy Murray (Jr., Harbor City, Calif.) kill evened the match at one set apiece.

Colgate built an early 13-7 lead in set number three, but that margin was soon winnowed down to 16-14. The Raiders then scored five of the next six points to give them some breathing room before taking the 2-1 advantage in sets. The Raiders then used a 5-0 spurt in the middle of the fourth set to turn a slim 12-10 lead into a 17-10 cushion. The teams pretty much played sideout volleyball over the remainder of the set, which led to Colgate closing out the two-hour match.

Colgate outhit Navy .229-.070 in set three and .282-.057 in set four.

Navy had 16 more swings than Colgate did in the match, 169-150, but produced just one more kill, 53-52, while also totaling 14 more attack errors (34-20). Though the digs between the teams were nearly identical â€"â€" 71 for Colgate, 69 for Navy â€"â€" an 11-6 advantage in blocks for the Raiders aided their .213-.112 hitting percentage advantage over the Mids.

Colgate also dropped in five aces while not allowing an ace to Navy's servers.

Gabriela Martin (Fr., Columbus, Ohio) tallied 14 kills and a .440 hitting percentage to lead Navy in both statistical categories. And though both Gaby Smith (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) and Katie Patrick (So., Aurora, Colo.) reached double figures with 11 kills each, no other Mid besides Martin hit higher than .250 on the night.

Defensively, Sydney Shearn (So., Louisville, Ky.) snared 16 digs and Olivia Kluger (Jr., Carmel, Ind.) grabbed 12 to lead the Navy passers, while Patrick tallied a Navy-best four blocks.

"Our middle hitters (Martin and Patrick) both played pretty well," said Bock, "but Colgate's outside hitters outplayed ours. Olivia also played well, and Tara Dotzauer (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) made a maximum impact in her minimum amount of time on the court. If we can played as we did tonight in the middle geography of the net and get our pin hitters up to that same level, we can be a pretty good team. But we have to solve our first contact problem."

Kathleen Harris posted 16 kills to lead the Colgate offense.

Navy's next match will be Tuesday when the Mids play at American. That contest against the Eagles will be followed by home matches against Army West Point on Oct, 7 and Holy Cross on Oct. 8.