ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Another very effective serving performance by the Navy volleyball team and a school-record tying hitting match by Cami Herman (Sr., Brookfield, Wis.) carried it to a 3-0 victory over Lehigh, Sunday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  The 25-15, 25-16, 25-16 win by the Mids (11-11, 7-6 Patriot League) over the Mountain Hawks (7-17, 3-10) clinched a berth for Navy in the six-team Patriot League Tournament.

Two weekends and three matches remain in the regular season for the Mids, who enter the gauntlet of matches at Army (second place), at Colgate (first place) and at Lafayette (tied for third place) in fifth place.

"We were determined to take care of business on our home court and earn a spot in postseason play," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.

"The win was a total team effort.  Our focus was on taking care of first contacts.  That includes serving a clean ball and passing an accurate ball."

Lehigh, which won a five-set match at Loyola Saturday and had defeated the Mids in five sets earlier this year, took a 4-1 lead at the very start of the first set.  The Mids rattled off the next five points on their way to taking an 11-7 lead.  The margin soon grew to 15-9 and then 20-11.  

Navy put together its best single-set hitting effort of the season in the first frame as the Mids recorded 17 kills against just one attack error on 33 swings for a mark of .485.  In contrast, Lehigh hit .138 in the set (9-5-29).  Leading the way were Jamie Llewellyn (So., Port Deposit, Md.) with five kills on 11 swings, and Herman with four kills on as many attempts.

The Mids quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the second set.  Kimberly Lynch (Sr., Murrietta, Calif.) dropped in two of her match-high five aces during this span.  Lehigh soon closed to within two points at 7-5 and 8-6.  A Herman kill started a 6-0 Navy run that gave it a 14-6 cushion.  The Mids took nine-point leads at 18-9 and 19-10 before Lehigh made a run.  Labrador called timeout with the Mids in front 21-16.  A kill by Herman ended the first point after the stoppage, then a Navy block took the lead to 23-16.  Averi Miller (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) dropped in an ace to take Navy to set point, which it converted on a block.

Navy's season-high hitting percentage for a set lasted all of 20 minutes as it hit .562 (10 kills, 1 error, 16 attempts) in the second set.  The Mids were even better defensively in the second set, as well, as the Mountain Hawks hit just .080 (10 kills, 8 errors, 25 attempts).  Four Mids had at least two kills in the set, with Herman's three leading the way.

The start of the third set was a close one as Navy never trailed, but never held a comfortable lead either.  The score was 11-9 when a Herman kill returned the serve to the Mids.  Lynch dropped back to serve and she kept the momentum going with an ace. Back-to-back Navy kills after the Mountain Hawks struggled to advance the ball over the net due to Lynch's efforts made the score 16-9.  She added one more ace, then a Lehigh attack error pushed the margin to 18-9.

Compared to the first two sets, Navy's hitting cooled off in set three.  But the Mids still managed 15 kills on 27 swings for a .296 attack percentage.  Additionally, Navy scored an impressive 13 points following the 16 serves by Lehigh.  Llewellyn again had a great hitting frame as she recorded seven kills and a .455 hitting percentage.

Navy ended the match with 42 kills and nine errors on 76 swings for a hitting percentage of .434.  The Mids limited Lehigh to a .130 hitting percentage (27 kills, 17 errors, 77 attempts).  Navy also recorded seven aces against six service errors to better the three aces and eight errors from the service line for Lehigh.  Navy registered 20 aces against 13 service errors between Saturday's 3-0 win over Bucknell and today's 3-0 win over Lehigh,

Herman ended the match with nine kills and zero errors on 10 attempts.  Her hitting percentage of .900 tied the school record (since stats were available in 1991) for the highest by a Mid in a match.  She shares the mark with Abbie Merkl, who had the same hitting line against Winston-Salem State on Sept. 5, 2008.  Her mark also set a new Wesley A. Brown Field House record, bettering the previous standard of .800 set by Navy's Gaby Smith against Lafayette in match played seven years and five days ago.

"Cami was really on today," said Labrador.  "She took smart swings but, even more importantly, dug some huge swings from Lehigh (Herman and Lynch shared the team lead with seven digs)."

Llewellyn led all players with 14 kills and hit an impressive .423 on her 26 attempts.  Avery Stowell (Sr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) added eight kills on offense and shared the team lead for blocks with Anna Klemeyer (So., Sarasota, Fla.) as each recorded five.  Miller dished out 25 assists who, along with eight assists from fellow setter Celie Feighery (Jr., Oak Hill, Va.) set the Mids to the their highest hitting percentage in a match since August 31, 2019, when Navy hit .455 against UConn.

"Our hitters played with a ton of trust in our setters," said Labrador.  "You could see that in their aggressive play."

Navy will head to the Empire State this weekend for matches Friday at Army and Saturday at Colgate.

Patriot League Standings (16-match season)
1. 11-2 Colgate
2. 10-3 Army
T3. 9-4 Lafayette
T3. 9-4 American
5. 7-6 Navy
6. 6-6 Loyola
7. 3-10 Lehigh
8. 2-11 Bucknell
9. 1-12 Holy Cross