Final Stats

GREENSBORO, N.C. â€"â€" The Navy volleyball team closed its non-league schedule by splitting a pair of matches Saturday in North Carolina as part of the Tussle in the Triad. The Mids (10-3) dropped a 3-1 (25-18, 13-25, 25-21, 25-17) decision to High Point (6-6) and defeated UNCG (7-5) in three sets (25-14, 25-23, 25-15), with both matches being true road contests for Navy.

This marks the second year in a row in which Navy has won 10 non-league matches. The Mids posted a 10-2 record against non-league foes in 2016. The last time Navy posted 10 non-league wins in consecutive seasons was in 2004 (13-3) and 2005 (11-3).

"We thought having a .500 record would be a good non-league result for us," said Navy head coach Larry Bock. "Record-wise, our season to date has been an unqualified success. But we are also very much a work in progress.

"I think the team has sent a message to itself that it can play at a high level. Now, we need to be able to play at that level for longer stretches. I think every team in the country is thinking the same thing, but the ceiling for this team is pretty high."

Navy's day began with its 11 a.m. match in High Point, N.C., and it started less and 14 hours after the Mids lost a five-set match to Elon Friday night.

The Mids trailed the Panthers, winners of the 2016 Big South Conference and the pre-season favorite to again win the 2017 crown, by as many as five points in the early stages of the first set, but were able to winnow that deficit down to just one point at 14-13. A 3-0 run by High Point served as a springboard for the Panthers to take the 1-0 lead.

Navy responded by taking leads of 3-0, 6-1 and 10-3 in set two. The Mids led by at least five points over the remainder of the frame.

The teams were knotted early in the third set, with High Point soon jumping out to leads of 14-9 and 19-11. Navy was able to close to within two points at 23-21, but a High Point block and ensuing service ace staved off Navy's rally.

The fourth set saw High Point take a 6-1 cushion at the very start of the frame, and the Panthers were able to withstand any charges made by the Mids.

There were sizeable differences in the hitting percentage posted by the teams in each of the four sets. The Mids outhit the Panthers .484-.073, in their set two win, and High Point held advantages of .267-.100, .214-.111 and .345-.257 in hitting in the three respective sets it won.

Maddi Sgattoni (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Maggie Phillips (Sr., Leesburg, Va.) each knocked down 12 kills to share the kill honors on the Navy team. Sydney Shearn (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) paced the Navy defense with 22 digs, and setter Patricia Mattingly posted another double-double with 40 assists and 16 digs.

"High Point is a real good team," said Bock. "Our first set was a continuation of how we closed our match against Elon, but then we had a revival in the second set. We had sporadic play in sets three and four.

"We were not real organized on defense, and we served very light. We passed as we did against Elon. We are not going to win many matches when we are playing out of system, sideout volleyball. We need passing and serving to be spot on. The team having the better ball control won each set."

Following the conclusion of the match, Navy hopped on the bus and drove the roughly 15 miles to Greensboro to face UNCG.

The Mids displayed no ill effects from either the loss or the journey as they placed four of the first five points of the match on the scoreboard. The Spartans were able to quickly close to with two points, but the Mids soon built a 13-6 advantage and kept extending their cushion over the rest of the stanza.

The second set was a different story as UNCG took an early 8-4 advantage. A 4-0 by Navy tied the score at 10-10, but the Spartans took several three-point leads until the score was again tied at 18-18. The teams would be tied at 19-19 and 20-20, then back-to-back points by Navy gave it a 22-20 lead. The teams traded sideouts to make the score 23-21, with back-to-back points by UNCG tying the score for the ninth time in the set at 23-23.

A kill by Phillips took the Mids to set point, which they converted on a kill by Sgattoni.

Navy then slowly turned an early 7-5 lead in the third set into a 16-6 advantage. The cushion would be at least seven points over the rest of the set.

"We were able to piece things together better against Greensboro," said Bock. "We passed confidently and served much tougher. Errors from smart-aggressive plays didn't impact us."

The Mids totaled a .305 attack percentage in the match thanks to 48 kills and just nine attack errors. That was in contrast to the 33 kills and 17 hitting errors recorded by the Spartans, which led to their hitting .119.

Tara Dotzauer (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.) was the lone Mid to reach double figures in kills. She finished the match with 15 kills and just one attack error on 22 attempts for a .636 hitting percentage. Four additional Mids tallied at least six kills.

"Tara had a great turnaround from this morning's match (five kills, .062 hitting percentage) to this afternoon's contest," said Bock.

Shearn again led the Navy defense with 21 digs. She was joined in double digits by Phillips (11), Mattingly (11) and Sgattoni (10). Mattingly was named to the all-tournament team this weekend after posting double-doubles in all three matches and averaging 8.8 assists and 4.3 digs per set.

"Patricia played at a very high level this weekend," said Bock. "She started off playing really well herself, but by the end she had everyone else playing well. Perhaps her best contribution was this afternoon was her serving. There are a lot of hidden points that can be traced back to her serves."

Navy will now begin its Patriot League slate with a match against Loyola on Saturday, Sept. 23. First serve for the contest to be played in the Wesley A. Brown Field House is set for 7:30 p.m.