ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Maddi Sgattoni's (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) 24 kills –– including the 1,000^th of her career –– helped the Navy (16-11, 11-5 Patriot League) volleyball team to a five-set victory over Lafayette (13-19, 2-14), Sunday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  The Mids defeated the Leopards, 25-15, 20-25, 27-25, 21-25, 17-15, in what was the final regular season match for both teams.
 
Navy, which rested four starters today, tied for third place in the final standings and will be the No. 4 seed in the league tournament.  Army, which also finished with an 11-5 record against league foes, earned the tiebreaker over Navy thanks to the Black Knights outscoring the Mids by three points (201-198) in the two head-to-head matches of the teams this season.  The Mids will play host to fifth-seeded Lehigh Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
 
This is the first year since 1995 in which the league tournament includes more than four teams.
 
Navy has finished no lower than fourth place in four-straight seasons for the third time in the program's 29-year Patriot League era and for the first time since 1996-99.  Navy placed fourth in 2016, second in 2017, tied for first in 2018 and tied for third this year.
 
This afternoon's match would see the score tied 41 times and the lead exchanged 17 times during the contest that lasted over two hours.
 
"We saw some really solid offense today from both sides of the net," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "It is always good to be in tight sets and learn how to find a way to win."
 
Navy turned a 7-7 tie during the opening set into a 16-10 lead.  The Mids weren't really threatened over the remainder of the frame.
 
The second set was tied at 12-12 when Lafayette scored six of the next seven points to take an 18-13 advantage.  The Mids closed to within three points at 19-16, 21-18 and 22-19, but could not cut down the margin more over the rest of the set.
 
Set three was tied 17 times and saw six lead changes.  Lafayette held a 23-22 lead, Navy posted back-to-back points to reach set point at 24-23, but an attack error by the Mids extended the set.  The teams traded sideouts, then Sgattoni knocked down a kill to give the Mids a 26-25 lead.  She dropped back to the service line and recorded an ace to give Navy the 2-1 advantage.
 
There was not much defense played by either team during the first three sets of the match.  The Leopards were hitting .385 through three sets and the Mids were hitting at a .343 clip.
 
Navy seemingly was on the verge of separating from Lafayette several times in the middle part of the fourth set, but the Leopards never let the deficit get away from them.  The score was tied at 18-18 when Lafayette scored back-to-back points.  After a service error by the Leopards made the score 20-19, Lafayette tallied three-straight points to take a 23-19 lead.  That was enough of a cushion for the visitors to send the match into a fifth set.
 
The fifth set was close from very early on.  Navy took an early 4-1 lead only to fall behind, 7-5.  The Mids regained the advantage at 11-9 before the score was tied at 12-12 and 13-13.  Cami Herman (So., Brookfield, Wis.) registered a kill to break the tie and take Navy to match point.  Lafayette answered with a kill, then reached match point itself on a Navy attack error.  Herman responded with another kill to tie the set at 15-15.  It was the eighth tie of the stanza.  The Leopards were forced into two-straight attack errors to end the match.
 
After three sets of offense, the defenses sprung to life in sets four and five.  Navy hit .200 in the last two sets and Lafayette hit .197.  Overall, the Leopards registered 70 kills and a .299 attack percentage to better the 66 kills and .285 hitting by the Mids.
 
Navy recorded 10 aces and eight errors from the service line, which was in contrast to the seven aces and 12 service errors for Lafayette.  Additionally, the Leopards held a 71-63 edge in digs and the Mids led in blocks, 8-3.
 
Sgattoni totaled 24 kills in the match with six of them coming in the shortened fifth set.  That left her one kill shy of tying her career high of 25 set last year in Navy's Patriot League Tournament championship match win over American, and gave her 1,002 career kills in her three seasons.
 
Sgattoni is the eighth Navy player to accrue 1,000 career kills during the program's Division I era (since 1991) and the fifth to do so during the NCAA rally scoring era (since 2001).  The last player to amass 1,000 career kills was Erin Fortner, who played from 2010-13. 
 
She also added 10 digs and two aces.
 
Paige Miles (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) dished out 56 assists and had three aces, Melissa Carter (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) set a career high with 15 kills and fellow middle hitter Avery Haydu (So., Allen, Texas) had a career-best nine kills on 15 swings without an attack error.  Defensively, Kimberly Lynch (So., Murrietta, Calif.) grabbed a career-high 21 digs to go along with three aces, Natalie LaPlaca (Sr., Owings, Md.) had 11 digs, and both Herman and Haydu had four blocks.
 
"Mel and Avery hit extremely efficiently today, and Maddi was seeing the court well," said Labrador.  "I also like seeing the balance of four players with multiple aces."
 
Navy defeated Lehigh in both matches this season.  The Mids won in three sets (25-18, 25-17, 25-17) in Annapolis and in four sets (25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 25-21) in Bethlehem.
 
Patriot League Volleyball Championship Field
No. 1 - American (22-7, 15-1 PL)
No. 2 - Colgate (22-6, 15-1 PL)
No. 3 - Army West Point (20-9, 11-5 PL)
No. 4 - Navy (16-11, 11-5 PL)
No. 5 - Lehigh (14-16, 7-9 PL)
No. 6 - Loyola Maryland (13-17, 6-10 PL)

Patriot League Volleyball Championship Schedule
Quarterfinal Round | Tuesday, Nov. 19 | Hosted by No. 3 & 4 Seeds
No. 6 Loyola Maryland at No. 3 Army West Point, 7 p.m. (PLN)
No. 5 Lehigh at No. 4 Navy, 7 p.m. (PLN)

Semifinal Round | Saturday, Nov. 23 | Hosted by American
Lowest-advancing seed from quarterfinal at No. 1 American, 2 p.m. (PLN)
Highest-advancing seed from quarterfinals vs. No. 2 Colgate, 5 p.m. (PLN)

Championship Game | Sunday, Nov. 24 | Hosted by American
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2, 2 p.m. (OTA)