BALTIMORE, Md. –– Olivia Rozmus (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) posted a new career high for kills for the second time in 48 hours to lead the Navy volleyball team to a very narrow 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 victory over Loyola Sunday afternoon at Reitz Arena in Baltimore.  The victory gave the Mids a two-match cushion on second place in the Patriot League standings with just two weeks and four matches left in the regular season.
 
Navy was playing its first and only road match in the month of October two days after losing in three sets to American in its home finale, and Loyola took to the court today in its last home match of the year less than 18 hours after losing to American 15-13 in the fifth set. 
 
The Mids had edged the Greyhounds, 25-15, 17-25, 25-22, 25-23, when the teams met earlier this season in Annapolis.
 
"Credit to Loyola for their excellent blocking, digging and overall game plan," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.
 
The first set saw the score tied 15 times and the lead exchanged on six occasions.  Loyola had a lead as large as three points three different times including at 16-13.  The score would be tied at each point from 16-16 through 23-23.  The Mids needed an attack error by the Greyhounds to force the 23-23 tie.  Another Loyola hitting miscue took the Mids to set point, which they converted on a kill by Katie Patrick (Sr., Aurora, Colo.).  That two-point margin was Navy's largest lead of the first set.
 
Loyola again held an early lead in the second set, this time by as many as four points at 8-4, 11-7 and 12-8 before it built a 15-10 advantage.  Navy chipped away and soon tie the score at 17-17.  Loyola answered by taking leads of 19-17 and 20-18, but Navy responded with a 5-0 run to take a 23-20 lead.  That margin quickly evaporated as the Greyhounds notched the ensuing three points to tie the set at 23-23.  Kelsey Kingsland (Sr., Blackwell, Mo.) posted a kill to give the Mids a 24-23 lead, then Rozmus tallied a kill of her own to give Navy the 2-0 advantage in sets.
 
It was Navy's turn to take an early advantage in set three.  The Mids jumped out to leads of 3-0, 5-1, 15-9 and 19-11.  Back came the Greyhounds and soon Navy led by just two points at 20-18.  The Mids rattled off a 3-0 run, then successive sideouts gave Navy a 24-21 lead.  A Rozmus attack error winnowed the margin down to 24-22, but she then posted a kill to close out the set and the match.
 
Both teams made 130 swings on the ball.  Navy tallied 47 kills and 19 attack errors (.215) on those efforts and Loyola posted 39 kills and 17 attack errors (.169).  The Greyhounds led the Mids in blocks, 9-6, with Navy holding an equal advantage over Loyola in digs (61-58).
 
"Our servers did a nice job targeting their outside hitting passers and avoiding libero Katie Forsythye," said Labrador.
 
Rozmus entered Friday's match against American with a career-best of 11 kills, which set earlier this season in a five-set win over Tulane.  She tallied 12 kills and a .348 attack percentage in three sets against the Eagles on Friday before she totaled 14 kills and a .500 attack percentage today against the Greyhounds.
 
"Olivia played a great match with both her attacking and blocking," said Labrador.
 
Much of Navy's offense today came on the outside as, in addition to the effort of Rozmus, Maddi Sgattoni (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted 12 kills and Kingsland recorded seven kills.  Rozmus and middle hitters Patrick and Sarena Seelbach (Jr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) all tallied three blocks in the 91-minute match.  Setter Patricia Mattingly dished out 30 assists and led the Mids with both three aces and 14 digs.  Also reaching double digits in digs were Sydney Shearn (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) with 12 and Sgattoni with 10.
 
Navy will head to New York State this week for matches Friday at Army and Saturday at Colgate.
 
"There is a great deal of familiarity between the teams in the league at this point in the season," said Labrador.  "Moving forward, the results will hinge upon how well the teams prepare during the week."
 
Patriot League Standings (Remaining Schedule; Top 4 make the playoffs)
12-0 American (at Colgate, at Holy Cross, vs. Lehigh, at Army)
10-2 Navy (at Army, at Colgate, at Lafayette, at Holy Cross)
8-4 Colgate (vs. American, vs. Navy, at Lehigh, vs. Loyola)
6-6 Loyola (at Holy Cross at Army, at Bucknell, at Colgate)
6-6 Army (vs. Navy, vs. Loyola, at Bucknell, vs. American)
6-6 Lehigh (vs. Bucknell, at Lafayette, at American, vs. Colgate)
5-7 Holy Cross (vs. Loyola, vs. American, vs. Navy, vs. Lafayette)
1-11 Bucknell (at Lehigh, at Lafayette, vs. Army, vs. Loyola)
0-12 Lafayette (vs. Bucknell, vs. Lehigh, vs. Navy, at Holy Cross)