BALTIMORE, Md. –– Team captain Maddi Sgattoni (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) registered 18 kills and 17 digs to help the Navy volleyball team (4-0) defeat Loyola (1-5) in five sets, Saturday evening at Reitz Arena in Baltimore, Md.  The Mids defeated the Greyhounds, 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 15-6.

Navy will play host to American Sunday at 4 p.m. in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.  The winner of that match will earn the fourth and final spot in the four-team Patriot League Tournament.

Tonight was the third Navy-Loyola match of the abbreviated league campaign.  Each match went to five sets and this was the second time in which the Mids led the Greyhounds, 2-0.

"Loyola sets the standard in the league for team ball control," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "You can't score with anything but your best swing.

"I was really proud of the energy our bench brought to the gym.  We really fed off their voices and support."

Navy held a 9-8 lead in the first set before opening up advantages of 15-10 and 20-13.  Loyola closed to within four points at 21-17 and 22-18, but the Mids kept the Greyhounds at bay.

Neither team could say they played well offensively in the opening stanza.   The Mids tallied nine kills and seven attack errors to narrowly outhit the Greyhounds who posted 10 kills and nine attack errors.  Not aiding Loyola was it committing seven service errors.  Individually, Sgattoni accounted for five of Navy's nine kills.

Loyola held a slight lead through most of the first half of second set.  The score was tied at 13, 14, 15 and 16, then a 4-0 run gave the Greyhounds a 20-16 edge.  Navy responded by scoring the next eight points to build a 24-20 advantage.  The teams traded sideouts to give the Mids a 2-0 advantage.

Navy outhit Loyola, .208-.083, in the second set.

The third set featured nine ties and five lead changes, with three points being the largest lead for either team until late in the frame.  The score was tied for the last time at 16.  Loyola then took advantages of 18-16, 20-17 and 22-18 on its way to extending the match.  

Navy posted its best hitting percentage of the three completed sets with a mark of .217, but Loyola registered a .270 hitting percentage.

The Mids jumped out to early leads of 5-1, 11-6 and 12-8 in set four, but the Greyhounds tied the stanza at 12.  Navy took a 16-14 lead, which was a short-lived lead as Loyola ran off the next six points to take a 20-16 advantage. The home team quickly took a 22-18 lead, but the visitors tallied the next four points to tie the set again at 22.  

A Loyola kill followed by a Loyola block gave the Greyhounds a 24-22 lead.  A service error ensued to make the score 24-23, but a sideout by the Greyhounds on a kill sent the teams into a fifth set.

Each team tallied 12 kills in the fourth set.  However, the Mids committed nine attack errors and the Greyhounds posted five hitting errors.

When the teams played their first match of the season, which was contested in Baltimore, Navy built an 8-1 lead at the beginning of the first set on its way to winning, 15-5.  Today, the Mids took leads of 6-0 and 8-2 at the start of the first-to-15 points set.  That was enough of an advantage for Navy to hold on for the win.

Navy hit a sizzling .692 in the fifth set. The Mids tallied nine kills and did not commit an attack error on their 13 attempts.  On the other side of the net, Loyola totaled two kills and four attack errors on 13 attempts for a (-).154 mark.

Each team committed 27 attack errors in the match, but the Mids had 61 kills to 47 for the Greyhounds to hold a .187-.114 advantage in hitting percentage.  Navy also held a slight edge in digs, 87-79, while Loyola held leads of 5-2 in aces and 13-11 in blocks.

Sgattoni was one of four Mids to reach double figures in kills and one of three to grab at least 10 digs.  

"Maddi put in another complete performance," said Labrador.  "She was particularly dialed in on defense tonight."

Offensively, Cami Herman (Jr., Brookfield, Wis.) posted 12 kills, Avery Stowell (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) had 11 kills and Maggie Bodman (Fr., Northbrook, Ill.) had 10 kills.  Defensively, Kimberly Lynch (Jr., Murrieta, Calif.) led Navy with 24 digs and Tessa Bohn (So., Nokomis, Fla.) grabbed 12.  Bodman also tallied eight blocks.  

"Both teams are really familiar with each other," said Labrador.  "We had to explore some new options on defense.  Kimmy had us really organized out there."

Loyola was led offensively by Abby Hamilton's 15 kills and defensively by Katie Forsythe's 36 digs.

Current Standings by Weighted Winning Percentage / Sunday Schedule
.700 Colgate (7-1) - clinched #1 seed
.500 Holy Cross (5-5) - clinched #2 seed
.400 Army (4-2) - clinched playoff berth
.400 Navy (4-0) / vs. American
.300 American (3-3) / at Navy
.300 Lehigh (3-5)
.200 Lafayette (2-5)
.100 Loyola (1-5)
.100 Bucknell (1-3)