Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" A strong defensive effort that led to a good offensive night carried the Navy volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Lafayette Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis. The Mids (15-3, 5-0 Patriot League) won their sixth match in a row with the 25-17, 25-14, 25-15 victory over the Leopards (3-14, 1-4).

"I don't think either team can lay claim to tonight being their best match of the season," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Lafayette has definitely played better this year, yet when they were in system they still gave us fits. We will be in for a real battle when we face them later this year in Easton after their young team has a little bit more seasoning."

Navy trailed Lafayette 10-8 in the first set before going on a 5-0 and 10-1 run to jump out to an 18-11 advantage. Sydney Shearn (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) served the first five points of that run, with Darby Minton (Jr., Chino Hills, Calif.) accounting for the points from the service line in the latter half of it.

"We started to take control of things in the middle of the first set when both Sydney and Darby got on some good tears from the service line," said Bock. "Those runs really opened the floodgates for us."

Navy held a slight lead early in the second set when a 6-1 run gave it an 18-11 lead. After winning the second set, Navy turned a 5-4 lead early in the third set into a 16-5 advantage on its way to closing out the 74-minute match.

Navy's offense totaled 39 kills and a .237 attack percentage while its defense limited Lafayette to 18 kills and a (-).021 hitting night. The Mids led the Leopards in both aces (6-2) and digs (51-36), while Lafayette held a slight edge over Navy in blocks (6-4).

Outside hitter Maggie Phillips (Sr., Leesburg, Va.) led the Navy offense with 10 kills, middle hitter Katie Patrick (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) totaled seven kills and opposite hitter Dorothy Murray (Sr., Harbor City, Calif.) produced five kills and zero attack errors on six attempts.

Setter Patricia Mattingly (Jr., New Albany, Ind.) dished out 27 assists despite playing only until midway through the third set.

Defensively, Shearn grabbed 16 digs, Phillips had eight digs and both Mattingly and Olivia Kluger (Sr., Carmel, Ind.) totaled five digs. Patrick also recorded three blocks.

"This was an important and great win for us," said Kluger. "We are going into an important weekend with Bucknell, Lehigh and then Army next week. A good win like this will set us forward and keep us going."

"The outside hitters all played well," said Bock. "Sydney was Sydney; she just took charge of first contacts. I think we got to the place where Lafayette was making some good shots and we started to make some digs. They (Lafayette) got a little too aggressive with trying to get the ball on the floor.

"I don't think our connections with the middle hitters were too precise tonight, but I also don't think we coaches had our players in the right defense to start the match. We made some adjustments later on that seemed to pay off. They played good defense in spite of the coaches and not because of the coaches."

Lafayette's offense was led by Christian Luhnnow's five kills, while Lexie Caraveo totaled a team-best 11 digs.

Navy will be back on the Wesley A. Brown Field House court Saturday at noon when the Mids play host to Bucknell. The Bison enter the match with a 2-2 record in league play and did not play a match this evening.

"Our biggest job right now is to switch gears and get ready for a very good Bucknell team in just a few hours," said Bock. "We have to get some things figure out before tomorrow, that's for sure."