ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Katie Patrick (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) became the latest member of the Navy volleyball team to establish a school record as she broke the standard for career blocks during a three-set victory by the Mids over Bucknell Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  The Mids (17-6, 9-1 Patriot League) defeated the Bison (6-14, 1-8), 31-29, 25-14, 25-14.
 
Navy has now won seven-straight home league matches, which betters the previous school standard of six consecutive home league wins (set in 2004-05 and 2017), and six-straight league matches overall, which is tied for both the second-longest league winning streak in school history (nine, 2016-17) and the second-longest winning streak by a Navy team during any span of a season since the program moved to the Division I level in 1991 (eight, 2017).
 
Additionally, the Mids have won each of the matches during their six-match winning streak in straight sets. 
 
Set won was a test of nerves for both teams.  Each held early two-point leads until the Mids took three-point advantages at 16-13, 17-14 and 19-16.  Navy would soon build a 21-17 lead and then reached set point with a 24-20 cushion.  A Bucknell kill, back-to-back Navy hitting errors and a block by the Bison very quickly tied the score at 24-24.  The Mids again reached set point at both 25-24 and 26-25, but the Bison answered and held set point of their own at 27-26.  Navy scored back-to-back points to regain the one-point advantage at 28-27, and had set-point opportunities at 29-28 and 30-29.  A Bucknell hitting error ended the frame on Navy's ninth chance to win the frame.
 
Navy totaled 17 kills in the first set and limited Bucknell to just 11 kills, but the Mids also committed 14 attack errors which were five more than the Bison tallied. 
 
"I'm really proud of our ability to grind out the win in set one," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador, who with the victory became Navy's winningest first-year coach during the program's Division I era.  "We were a little out of rhythm at the start of the first set and eventually settled in."
 
Bucknell shook off the opening stanza loss by quickly jumping out to a 4-1 lead at the start of set two.  Navy tied the score at 7-7 and the score would be tied again at both 8-8 and 9-9.  A bad set by the Bison gave the Mids a 10-9 lead.  Kelsey Kingsland (Sr., Blackwell, Mo.), who totaled five kills in set one, promptly registered kills on each of the next two points to give the Mids a 12-9 lead, after which the Bison called timeout.  Sarena Seelbach (Jr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) delivered an ace on the next play to keep the momentum going, then a kill by Patrick boosted the Navy lead out to 14-9.
 
Bucknell's Sophie Bullard posted a kill on the next point, but the Mids notched the ensuing four points to build an 18-10 cushion.
 
Navy took most of the drama out of the third set very early as the Mids built leads of 7-2 and 15-5 on their way to closing out the match.
 
After its 14-error first set, Navy committed just seven attack errors combined in sets two and three.   Conversely, the Bison committed 14 hitting errors over the same two-set span.
 
Navy hit just .165 in the match but cleared the .200 mark in just the second set (.345).  Its defense, however, never let the Bison hit over .100 in any frame and allowed them to tally a .024 percentage during the 85-minute match.
 
The Mids also led the Bison in kills (41-26), aces (8-4), digs (64-51) and blocks (12-7).
 
Kingsland again keyed the Navy offense in sets two and three.  She totaled seven kills and no attack errors in the last two frames to end the night with 12 kills and just one hitting error on 22 swings (.500).  Fellow outside hitter Maddi Sgattoni (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) totaled eight kills and six kills were registered by both right-side hitter Olivia Rozmus (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) and middle hitter Seelbach. 
 
Team captain Darby Minton (Sr., Chino Hills, Calif.) recorded four of Navy's eight aces and finished with 11 digs, Emily Solis (Jr., Leesburg, Va.) tallied 17 digs and Sydney Shearn (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) grabbed 16 digs.  Additionally on defense, Patrick, Seelbach and setter Patricia Mattingly (Sr., New Albany, Ind.) all recorded five blocks.
 
"Darby sparked us from the service line and Kelsey put us on her back and carried us by hitting .700 (7-0-10) combined in sets two and three," said Labrador.  "Emily really covered the court well and made some really smart reads on defense."
 
Patrick broke the Navy career blocks record (blocks have been available since 1995) with her first block of the match, a solo effort that gave the Mids a 13-12 lead in the first set.  Her total of 363 career blocks broke the record of 358 held by Jen Williams (1996-99).  She becomes the third member of the Class of 2019 to establish a new career standard at Navy as Shearn holds the school digs record (available since 1991) and Mattingly has dished out the most assists by a Mid (available since 1991).
 
"Katie takes a ton of pride in her blocking," said Labrador.  "She combined length, jump and a real tactical approach to blocking.  I couldn't be happier to be part of her record setting day today."
 
 
Navy will close its home slate Friday when it plays host to American at 7 p.m.
 
Patriot League Standings
9-0 American
9-1 Navy
6-4 Lehigh
6-4 Loyola
5-4 Colgate
4-6 Army
3-6 Holy Cross
1-8 Bucknell
0-10 Lafayette
 
Friday Results
Navy 3, Lehigh 0
Army 3, Holy Cross 1
Loyola 3, Lafayette 0
 
Saturday Results
Navy 3, Bucknell 0
Lehigh 3, Loyola 2
American 3, Lafayette 0
Colgate 3, Army 0
 
Sunday Schedule
Holy Cross at Colgate
Bucknell at American