ANN ARBOR, Mich. –– The Navy (3-4) volleyball team went toe-to-toe with No. 24 Michigan (5-2) before the Mids fell to the Wolverines, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21, Friday night at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
Tonight's meeting was a rematch of the 2018 NCAA Tournament first round contest played between the teams.  Michigan defeated the Mids, 25-23, 25-20, 25-10, last year on its way to reaching the Sweet 16 round of the tournament for the second time in three seasons.
 
Navy's four losses this year have come to West Coast teams Gonzaga (now 6-1 this year) and UCSB (5-1), SEC-member school Alabama (7-1) and Michigan (5-2).  The Mids have posted a 2-12 record in sets against those teams, which includes a 1-10 record in sets decided by no more than five points and a 0-9 record in sets determined by no more than four points.
 
"We are once again right there with outstanding teams," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "It is the little things that we need to clean up to get over that hurdle and find more success.  We have to manufacture a few more points here and there.  But having the opportunity to learn lessons such as that are why we are playing this challenging schedule."
 
Navy had a great start to this evening's opening set as the Mids never trailed until Michigan went on a 3-0 run to take a 17-16 lead.  After the score was tied at 18-18, the Wolverines went on another 3-0 spurt to take a 21-18 advantage.  The teams traded sideouts to keep the margin at either two or three points for a short span.  Navy notched back-to-back points to close to within one point at 23-22, but a Navy service error followed by a Michigan kill gave the Wolverines set one.
 
Michigan built an early 9-4 lead in set two only to see Navy rally and tie the score at 11-11.  The Wolverines tried to build some separation from the Mids as they took leads of 14-11, 16-12, 18-14 and 20-16.  Back came Navy, however, and soon it was a 22-21 lead for Michigan.  Back-to-back points by the Wolverines stretched their cushion out to 24-21, then an exchange of sideouts closed out the frame.
 
Neither team could shake the other at the start of set three.  The score was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10.  Michigan then went on a 4-0 run to take a 14-10 advantage and lead to a Navy timeout.  The Wolverines would soon build advantages of 18-13 and 21-14.  The Mids were able to slice the margin down to four points at 21-17 but eventually trailed, 24-18.  Navy fought off three match points to winnow the margin down to 24-21, but a Michigan timeout was followed by a kill to end the nearly 90-minute match.
 
The teams had nearly the same amount of swings –– 96 for Navy, 92 for Michigan –– on the night but Navy totaled 38 kills and 10 errors for a .198 attack percentage and Michigan tallied 43 kills and 13 errors for a .326 hitting night.  The Wolverines also led the Mids in both digs (34-31) and blocks (6-5).
 
Maddi Sgattoni (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) recorded 11 kills and just two errors on 26 attempts (.346) to lead the Navy offense.  Avery Stowell (So., Yorba Linda, Calif.) finished one kill shy of Sgattoni's tally and Amanda Montag (Jr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) was one kill behind Stowell's effort.  Sarena Seelbach (Sr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) finished the match with three blocks while Stowell, Paige Miles (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Sofia Hruby (Sr., Austin, Texas) each added two blocks.  Also, Emily Solis (Sr., Leesburg, Va.) snared a team-best 11 digs.
 
"Paige had good balance with the number of attempts our wing hitters had," said Labrador.  "Maddi had a really good night offensively.  To hit what she did against this Michigan team was a great effort for her.  Michigan won't allow a hitting percentage like that to someone on the outside too often."
 
Navy will remain in the Ann Arbor area overnight and play Saturday at 5 p.m. at Eastern Michigan.