DENVER, Colo. –– The Navy volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday at Hamilton Gym in Denver, Colo., as part of the Denver Invitational. The Mids (7-5) first recorded a four-set (25-11, 24-26, 25-14, 25-16) win over Maryland Eastern Shore (3-8) before falling in three sets (25-14, 25-17, 26-24) to a Denver team that is now 9-1 on the year and favored to win the Summit League for a fifth-straight season.

Navy quickly took control of the first set against UMES as the Mids rattled off the opening six points of the 10 a.m. MDT match.  Navy hit .550 and allowed the Hawks to score just one point on their 12 serves in the first set.

The second set was a much closer affair as the score was tied 11 times and the lead was exchanged on six occasions.  The score was knotted at 20 when the Hawks tallied back-to-back points on a Navy service error and a kill by Rachel Kayongo.  The Mids sliced the lead in half on a kill from Katie Patrick (Sr., Aurora, Colo.), and that started a run of three-straight sideouts that made the score 23-22 in favor of UMES.  An attack error by the Hawks allowed the Mids to tie the set at 23.  Navy then took a 24-23 lead on another UMES attack error, but the Hawks recorded a kill to deny the Mids their chance to win the frame.  UMES would tally back-to-back points to win the set on a Navy ball-handing error and a block by the Hawks.

Navy answered by taking leads of 3-0 and 6-1 in the third set only to see UMES close to within one point at 7-6.  The score was 10-8 in favor of Navy when the Mids went on a 5-0 and 10-1 run to break out to a 20-9 advantage.

Navy held a slim lead through the majority of the fourth set until a 5-0 run gave it a 17-9 lead.  UMES was able to winnow the margin down to 19-15 until another 5-0 spurt by the Mids took Navy to match point with a 24-15 cushion.

"Eastern Shore has great size, athleticism and a setter who can set, block and attack," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "We were tested in all areas of our game and I am happy with our ability to execute.  Our hitters took some confident swings."

Navy hit a solid .374 in the match and limited UMES to a .198 hitting performance.  The Mids posted nine more kills (51-42) and nine fewer attack errors (11-20) than the Hawks did.  Navy also held a 10-3 advantage in service aces.

Maddi Sgattoni (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted a double-double of 11 kills and 11 digs, Patrick shared the team lead in kills with 11 of her own and added a .562 attack percentage, and Patricia Mattingly (Sr., New Albany, Ind.) just missed a double-double with 31 assists and nine digs.  Additionally, Darby Minton (Sr., Chino Hills, Calif.) was one of three Mids with multiple aces in the match as she dropped in four of them.

Unlike the match for the Mids against UMES, Navy was on its heels at the start of its evening contest against Denver as the Pioneers quickly placed the first four points of the opening set on their side of the scoreboard.  Navy fought back and tied the score at 11 but gave up the next seven points to fall into too deep of a hole to climb out of.

The teams played point-for-point over the first half of the second set until Denver went on a run to build an eight-point lead.  Navy was able to slice the margin in half at 21-17 but couldn't cut further into the deficit.

Navy had its best start to the match in set three as the Mids took an early 7-3 lead.  Denver ran off the next four points to tie the score, but Navy responded with a 4-1 run of its own to take a 12-8 advantage.  The Navy lead would grow to 16-11, but Denver again rallied and tied the score at 16.

Navy held a 19-18 lead when the Pioneers recorded a sideout to tie the score again.  Denver then tallied an ace and a kill off of an overpass in serve receive to take a 21-19 advantage.  Sgattoni cut the margin in half with a kill, but that was followed by a Denver block that gave the Pioneers a 22-20 lead.  It then became 23-20 on a Navy attack error.  The Mids notched the ensuing two points to close to within 23-22, then tied the score at 23 on a Denver attack error.  Mattingly and Patrick next teamed up for a block to take Navy to set point at 24-23.  A service error by the Mids tied the frame at 24-24, which was followed by a Denver kill that took the Pioneers to match point with a 25-24 advantage.  A Navy attack error closed out the match.

"Denver is a very well-trained, disciplined team," said Labrador.  "When you combine their size and fitness, they are a tough team to beat.  I'm proud of our fight in the third set.  There were some real step-up moments in there for us.  Our passers kept us in the match."

Navy struggled with its hitting all night.  The Mids hit .040 for the match and allowed the Pioneers to hit .204.  Denver also held a 41-26 lead in kills and 46-35 advantage in digs.  Navy led Denver 11-8 in blocks.

Sgattoni led the Navy offense with nine kills with Colorado-native Patrick adding five kills and a .333 hitting percentage.  Defensively, Patrick would pace the Mids with seven blocks and Sgattoni shared the team-high in digs with Mattingly as each snared six.

Navy will close its non-league slate of matches Saturday with a 3 p.m. EDT match at Air Force.