ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy volleyball team opens the Patriot League Tournament Tuesday night when it travels to West Point to face Army at 7 p.m.  The quarterfinal round match between the sixth-seeded Mids (12-13 / 8-8 Patriot League) and the third-seeded Black Knights (17-8 / 11-5) will be streamed through ESPN+.  Live statistics from the match also will be available through a link found at NavySports.com.

Navy garnered the No. 6 seed in the tournament by virtue of placing sixth in the league with an 8-8 record.  

Army and American tied for third place in the final Patriot League standings with identical 11-5 records.  The teams split their two meetings –– American won a five-set match in Washington, D.C., Saturday –– but the Black Knights held a 5-4 edge in sets won in those two matches, which gave them the tiebreaker for the higher seed over the Eagles.

Navy closed the regular season with back-to-back losses.  Those defeats were four-set road decisions at first-place Colgate and second-place Lafayette.  

The latter loss came Saturday when the Leopards defeated the Mids, 25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16.  Avery Stowell (Sr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) continued her strong play of late with a career-high 18-kill performance.  She also added a .371 attack percentage, five digs and four blocks.  Stowell has reached double figures in kills in four of the last seven matches (3.12 kps, .279 hit pct.) and in eight of the last 14 matches (2.96 kps, .281 hit. pct.)

The quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament was added in 2019, but the round was not utilized in the spring of 2021 due to COVID protocols.  

Navy recorded a 3-0 victory over Lehigh two years ago when the fourth-seeded Mids played host to the fifth-seeded Mountain Hawks in the inaugural quarterfinal round of the event.

Army and Navy have met in the postseason on three previous occasions.  The first meeting saw Army defeat Navy in three sets in the second round of the 1991 tournament played at Army.  The Black Knights then defeated the Mids in three sets in the semifinal round of the 2005 event that was played at American.  The teams also met in Washington, D.C., in the semifinal round of the 2017 event.  The Mids posted a 3-0 victory over the Black Knights in that match.

The road team has won both Army-Navy matches this season.  It was just the second time since the teams began playing twice a season in 1999 in which the road team prevailed in each contest (1999).

Army 3, Navy 1 (Sept. 25, Annapolis, Md.)
Untimely serving miscues hurt the Mids in their 25-21, 18-25, 25-17, 25-18 loss to the Black Knights.  Navy dropped in eight aces but also registered 16 service errors (Army had four aces and seven errors).  Additionally, the Mids committed eight more attack errors (21-13) than the Black Knights.

Jamie Llewellyn (So., Port Deposit, Md.) paced the Mids with 12 kills and three aces, Stowell posted 10 kills and three blocks and Kimberly Lynch (Sr., Murrietta, Calif.) snared a team-high 20 digs.  For Army, Paige Fixemer totaled 18 kills, a .593 attack percentage and four blocks.

Navy 3, Army 1 (Nov. 5, West Point, N.Y.)
The Mids defeated the Black Knights, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, in what was the first victory for Navy over Army at West Point since 2014.  Of Navy's five losses during that losing streak, four of them came in five sets.

Navy registered just four more kills than Army, 54-50, but the Black Knights committed 29 attack errors to just 16 for the Mids.  

Stowell posted 17 kills and just one error on 47 swings (.340), Llewellyn knocked down 13 kills and Maggie Bodman (So., Northbrook, Ill.) tallied 10 kills and one error on 23 attempts (.391).  Averi Miller (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) dished out 38 assists and grabbed 14 digs.  Additionally, Lynch snared 19 digs.  Army was led by 13 kills from Savannah Bray, 12 from Fixemer and 23 digs from Sayler Butters.

Patriot League Standings
1. Colgate (13-3 / 16-9)
2. Lafayette (12-4 / (15-9)
T3. Army (11-5 / 17-8)
T3. American (11-5 / 17-13)
5. Loyola (9-7 / 17-10)
6. Navy (8-8 / 12-13)
7. Lehigh (4-12 / 8-19)
8. Bucknell (3-13 / 7-18)
9. Holy Cross (1-15 / 2-25)

Patriot League Tournament Schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 16 - Quarterfinals
No. 6 Navy at No. 3 Army (7 p.m.)
No. 5 Loyola at No. 4 American (7 p.m.)
Saturday, Nov. 20 - Semifinals
Lowest seeded team from quarterfinals at No. 1 Colgate (4 p.m.)
Highest seeded team from quarterfinals vs. No. 2 Lafayette (at Colgate) (7 p.m.)
Sunday, Nov. 21 – Final
Semifinal Winners (at Colgate) (4 p.m.)