Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. ---- Balance throughout the lineup on both offense and defense resulted in the Navy volleyball team posting a four-set victory over American Tuesday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House. The Midshipmen (12-3, 2-0 Patriot League) won the marathon (2:13) match over the Eagles (8-7, 1-1), 29-27, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20.

The victory was the first for Navy over American since the 1989 season. The Eagles had defeated the Mids in all 35 previous matches played between the teams since American joined the Patriot League for the 2001 season, and also had won the last six prior matches played in the series before both teams became members of the league.

The programs played five-set matches in 2007, 2008 and 2012.

Navy and American met three times during the 2016 season. Half of the 10 sets played between the teams were decided by the minimum of two points with an additional set determined by three points.

American entered the match having posted a combined 70-3 record (regular season and tournament matches) against league foes since the start of the 2013 season. Prior to tonight, the only league teams to have defeated the Eagles over the last 17 seasons were Army, Colgate and Lehigh.

"American has been the benchmark or gold standard since they joined the league," said Navy head coach Larry Bock, who has guided Navy to an overall record of 39-15 and a league record of 19-9 since the middle of the 2015 league campaign. "That continues today. We have had many great matches with them in which we came away with moral victories that we really built off of, but it is nice to come away from tonight with an actual victory.

"It was a great volleyball match. And it had to be fun for everyone who was here and could handle over two hours of volleyball. That was good volleyball. The rallies were long; both teams have to be tired. I think it was a pretty good event for Patriot League volleyball. We will enjoy this, but tonight is a means to an end and we have to do it again this weekend."

The score was tied 45 times in the match and the lead changed hands on 19 occasions.

After Navy scored the opening point of the match, American rattled off the ensuing six points which led to Bock calling an early timeout. The Eagles held an 11-9 lead when the Mids scored the next three points to take a 12-11 advantage, which soon became a 20-14 lead.

American answered and quickly took a 22-21 lead. The teams played sideout volleyball until Maddi Sgattoni (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) knocked down a kill to give the Mids a 24-23 lead and the chance to serve for the set. The Mids would need a total of five opportunities to win the set before a Tara Dotzauer (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.) kill allowed them to covert.

As close as the first set was, the second was even closer as the score was tied 21 times and the largest lead for either team was two points ---- twice for American, once for Navy ---- which came before both teams reached 10 points. In this set, American was the team to consistently hold a one-point lead late, and the Eagles served for the set leading 24-23 and 25-24. Sgattoni posted another kill to tie the frame at 25-25, then the Mids took a 26-25 lead on a solo block by Sgattoni. Sgattoni then knocked down another kill to give Navy to 2-0 lead in stanzas.

The start of the third set was a close one until American edged its way out to a 10-6 lead. The advantage would be four points again at 13-9, 14-10 and 16-12, but the Mids scored the ensuing five points to take a 17-16 advantage. The score would again be tied at 17-17 and 18-18 before the Eagles took a 23-20 lead. Navy scored back-to-back points to close to within one point and was eventually able to stave off one set point opportunity against them, but would drop the set to extend the match.

American held a two-point lead in the very early stages of the fourth set. The score was tied at 11-11 when Maggie Phillips (Sr., Leesburg, Va.) posted back-to-back kills to give Navy a 13-11 lead. It then became a 14-11 lead on an American attack error. Consecutive sideouts ---- the latter of which was another Phillips kill ---- made the score 15-12 in favor of the Mids, it grew to 16-12 on a Phillips kills and reached 17-12 on a block by the tandem of Phillips and Sarena Seelbach (So., Chapel Hill, N.C.).

"Two things happened," said Bock on the separation of the Mids in set four. "We started blocking and our outside hitters just found a fourth wind. Maddi and Maggie were able to find some good edges off the American block. There were big plays by a lot of people at big important times."

The Navy advantage soon reached 20-14 and then 23-15. American cut the margin down to 23-18 when a Sgattoni kill gave the Mids match point. It would take three chances to earn that point, but Navy did so on a Phillips kill.

American led Navy in kills by two (63-61) and in attempts by one (213-212), with the Mids outhitting the Eagles, .193-.169. Navy additionally held advantages over American in aces (5-2) and blocks (14-6).

Five Navy players had at least nine kills, five had at least 10 digs and four had at least three blocks.

Pacing the Navy offense was Phillips with 19 kills and a .283 attack percentage. Phillips totaled 15 of her kills in the final two sets of the match (7 kills, 2 errors, 20 attempts in set three; 7 kills, 1 error, 15 attempts in set four).

Joining her in double figure kills were Sgattoni and Katie Patrick (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) with 10 each, while Dotzauer and Seelbach both tallied nine.

Sydney Shearn (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) grabbed 32 digs in the match, which ties her for the second-most digs recorded in a match by a player in Navy history and would have comfortably been the facility record were it not for her American counterpart tonight, Kristen Largay snaring 40 digs.

"We talked during the match about how our pre-season and our practices really prepared us for this," said Shearn. "We fought hard. This is a match we have had circled on our calendar every single year. Afterward we kind of looked at each other and said, `wow, that felt amazing.' It is just nice to know we can do it. The hard work is paying off. Now we have another pair of tough matches this weekend."

Setter Patricia Mattingly (Jr., New Albany, Ind.) totaled 18 digs and dished out 51 assists, Sgattoni had 17 digs, Darby Minton (Jr., Chino Hills, Calif.) finished with 13 digs and three aces, and Olivia Kluger (Sr., Carmel, Ind.) notched 11 digs.

Patrick led the Navy front-row defense with nine blocks, while Dotzauer, Sgattoni and Seelbach each had three blocks.

American's Aleksandra Kazala finished with 24 kills on 81 attempts while grabbing22 digs, with her teammate, Kennedy Etheridge tallying 20 digs and 50 assists.

Navy will go on the road this weekend for matches Friday at Colgate and Saturday at Holy Cross.