ARLINGTON, Va. –– A career-best performance by Amanda Montag (Jr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) sparked the Navy volleyball team to a three-set (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) victory over Air Force (0-1), Friday morning in the opening match of the season for both teams.  Navy (1-1) would conclude the first day of the season with a four-set loss to Gonzaga (25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 27-25). 
 
Gonzaga's (2-0) first match of the tournament was a 3-0 win over Connecticut.
 
The matches were played as part of the Service Academy Challenge at The Pentagon Athletic Center inside of the five-sided military headquarters in Arlington, Va.  The Mids will close out the weekend with a 10 a.m. match Saturday against Connecticut.  The Huskies also swept Air Force Friday evening.
 
Air Force scored the opening point of the match on a sideout.  That would prove to be the only lead for the Falcons over the remainder of the 85-minute match.  Navy would hold a lead of up to four points until Air Force tied the frame at 13-13.  The Mids rattled off the ensuing four points to regain the lead, then extended the advantage out to 21-14.  Air Force winnowed the cushion down to one point at 22-21, but back-to-back kills followed by an ace by Paige Miles (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) gave Navy the opening set.
 
Navy slowly edged its way out to a 10-5 lead in set two.  The Mids were threatened during the ensuing part of the set, but never saw their advantage dip below three points over the remainder of the stanza.
 
Navy then took control early in set three by taking leads of 3-0, 6-2, 10-5 and 14-7.  The Mids would hold a 24-17 lead before the Falcons went on a 4-0 run to make things more interesting than Navy had hoped for, but a kill by Sofia Hruby (Sr., Austin, Texas) ended the contest.
 
The win gave Navy victories over Air Force in each of the last three years with those trio of wins coming at three different sites.  The Mids won in four sets in Annapolis in 2017 and in five sets in Colorado Springs in 2018.  Also, today's win marked the first time Navy had swept Air Force.
 
Montag entered the season on the roster with 29 kills and 11 digs over the course of her freshman and sophomore seasons.  She would record 13 kills and 11 digs –– along with a .455 attack percentage –– today against Air Force.
 
"Amanda really carried us," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "She did it all, and at critical moments.  We have some work to do defensively, but credit Air Force for finding and exploiting our miscues.
 
"Playing in The Pentagon is an honor and unforgettable experience."
 
Fellow outside hitter Maddi Sgattoni (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted 12 kills this morning.  Her first kill of the match gave her 700 for her career.  In the middle, Hruby tallied eight kills and zero attack errors on 12 swings.  The eight kills doubled her entire 2018 effort.
 
Navy outhit Air Force, .273-.214, and held a slim 39-34 lead in digs.  The Falcons held equally miniscule advantages over the Mids in blocks (6-3) and aces (7-5).
 
Statistics are not available for the Navy-Gonzaga match.

"We really battled against a very talented Gonzaga team," said Labrador.  "Our volleyball IQ is already paying big dividends.  Avery Stowell (So., Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Sgattoni really shined tonight.  And Paige set an extremely smart offense."