ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Navy outside hitters Amanda Montag (Jr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Maddi Sgattoni (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) combined for 27 kills to nearly equal the team total for Lehigh during a three-set victory for the Mids (7-7, 2-1 Patriot League) over the Mountain Hawks (9-9, 2-2), Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  Navy defeated Lehigh by scores of 25-18, 25-17, 25-17.
 
With the Mids playing their first home match in 345 days, they and the Mountain Hawks went point-for-point with each other until very late in the first set.  Navy opened up a 16-11 lead only to see Lehigh take an 18-17 advantage.  A kill by Montag tied the score, then Navy scored the next seven points to win the set.  Paige Miles (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) served out the stanza that included two kills by Montag, two kills by Avery Stowell (So., Yorba Linda, Calif.) and three blocks by the Mids.
 
Navy jumped out to a 10-4 advantage at the start of the second set.  Sgattoni triggered four of those points with her serve, which included a pair of aces for herself.  The Mids kept extending their cushion to margins of 12-6, 16-8, 18-9 and 20-11 in winning the frame.
 
Another good start for the Mids in set three boosted them to a 5-2 lead in the early going.  Lehigh tied the frame at 9-9 and the score remained close until a 6-2 spurt by Navy gave them a 20-13 lead.
 
"We passed well enough to sideout at a pretty good rate (67%) and when we had a few lulls, our pin hitters bailed us out," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "Our serving helped control the speed and power of Lehigh, and Paige found her hitters in rhythm while taking a few timely swings of her own (4 kills and 6 attempts). 
 
"The home crowd was great and the team really fed off that energy today."
 
Navy's offense totaled 17, 15 and 15 kills, respectively, in the three sets for a total of 47, and its defense limited Lehigh to nine, nine and 10 kills in the individual frames for a total of 28.  The Mids also held a .354-.098 advantage in hitting percentage.  Additionally, Navy accrued six aces and seven blocks while Lehigh did not record an ace and finished with three blocks.
 
Individually, Montag's 16 kills led the Mids, with Sgattoni's 11 placing her second on the squad.  Sgattoni also dropped in three aces.  Both players had strong hitting nights with percentages of .407 for Montag and .310 for Sgattoni.  Also, Stowell finished with eight kills on 16 swings for a hitting percentage of .438.
 
Navy will head back out on the road this coming week for matches Friday at Loyola and Saturday at American.