BALTIMORE, Md. –– Jamie Llewellyn (So., Port Deposit, Fla.) totaled 18 kills, one attack error, a .486 hitting percentage and nine aces over the course of a pair of victories by the Navy volleyball team, Friday at Hill Field House on the Morgan State campus in Baltimore. The Mids defeated Binghamton in three sets (25-17, 25-14, 25-14) and Cleveland State in four sets (25-15, 21-25, 25-14, 25-16) on the first day of the 2021 season.
Navy's win over Binghamton was the 500th career victory for head coach Paco Labrador. Now in his fourth season on The Yard and 19th year as a head coach, he has compiled a 501-71 record.
"Reaching 500 wins reflects a lot of great teams and great support. "(Current Navy assistant coach) Kristina Fultz played for me for 300 and 400 wins and (current Navy assistant coach) Maddie Fischer played on the 400 team. I'm honored to share number 500 with this staff and incredible team of Midshipmen."
Navy began the day with its victory over Binghamton.
The Mids built some separation from the Bearcats early in the opening set. The score was tied at 7-7 when a 6-0 run boosted Navy out to a 13-7 cushion. The margin winnowed to four points at 13-9 before it expanded to seven (17-10) and nine points (21-12).
Navy quickly took leads of 6-0 and 11-1 to firmly take control of the second set. It was more of the same in the third set as the Mids scored eight of the first nine points of the frame.
The Mids doubled the number of kills the Bearcats totaled, 35-17, and held a .272-.000 advantage in hitting percentage. Navy also held significant statistical advantages in aces (9-3) and blocks (6-2).
Llewellyn and Cami Herman (Sr., Brookfield, Wis.) each recorded eight kills to best Avery Stowell (Sr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) for the team lead in kills by one. Neither Llewellyn nor Stowell committed an attack error. Llewellyn attempted 14 swings to end the match with a .571 attack percentage and Stowell took 12 attacks to finish with a .583 hitting percentage. Llewellyn also dropped in five aces.
"We played a nice, balanced match," said Labrador. "I thought our setters distributed the ball extremely well. Avery Stowell made some really savvy shots and Jamie absolutely filled the box score. She took some amazing swings in very tough situations and also struck her serve consistently hard."
After a short break, the Mids matched themselves against a Cleveland State team that had swept the tournament-host Bears earlier in the day.
The Vikings continued that momentum into the start of their match against Navy by taking leads of 4-0 and 5-1 in set one. The Mids tied the stanza at 7-7, but then fell behind by scores of 11-7 and 12-8. A service error by Cleveland State made the score 12-9, then an ace by Averi Miller (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) started a run that gave Navy a 13-12 lead. The Vikings leveled the score at 13-13, then Miller fed Anna Klemeyer (So., Sarasota, Fla.) for a kill to break the tie. Llewellyn dropped back to serve for what would be the first of seven-straight points she would trigger. Her last serve came with Navy holding a 20-13 lead, which concluded a 12-1 run by the Mids.
Navy hit .423 in the first set and limited Cleveland State to a mark of .160. Fortunes changed in the second set as the Vikings held a .186-.156 advantage to even the contest at one set each. As in set one, Cleveland State had a fast start to the second set as it took leads of 4-0 and 7-4. Navy took a 9-7 lead only to see the Vikings take a 14-11 advantage. Back came the Mids to briefly hold a 15-14 lead. Cleveland State regained the advantage at 17-15 and was able to extend it out to 21-16. Navy could not put any kind of dent into that margin.
The third set began with the Mids trailing by scores of 3-1 and 5-4. Navy answered with an 8-0 run that gave it a 12-5 lead. The closest Cleveland State could close to was five points at 15-10 as Navy took a 2-1 advantage in sets.
Navy took a slim 5-3 lead early in set number four and quickly pushed the advantage out to 15-6, which provided more than enough of a cushion for the Mids to close out the nearly two-hour match.
Navy held a slim lead over Cleveland State in kills, 48-43, but the Mids hit .278 and limited the Vikings to a mark of .149. Navy tallied just six blocks but forced Cleveland State into 25 attack errors, several due to serving as the Mids dropped in 12 aces.
Stowell paced the Mids with 12 kills, Herman added 11 kills and Llewellyn posted 10 kills and one attack error on 21 attempts for a .429 attack percentage. She also accounted for four more aces. Defensively, Kimberly Lynch (Sr., Murrietta, Calif.) snared 10 digs, Herman grabbed eight digs and Maggie Bodman (So., Northbrook, Ill.) recorded four blocks.
"I'm proud of the way we responded to some sharp play by Cleveland State," said Labrador. "We came out of a timeout in set one with focused energy. The same can be said for sets three and four. The team evolved to CSU's tendencies and executed well down the stretch. Jamie continued to score almost at will and stayed aggressive from the end line. Maggie really shut down a few of the Cleveland State pins and found a nice rhythm with Averi Miller."
Navy will play one match Saturday, a 4 p.m. contest against Morgan State. Links to a free video stream of the match can be found on NavySports.com. The Bears began the 2021 season with a 3-0 loss to Cleveland State and a 3-0 loss to Towson.
Following Saturday's match, Navy will play host to Towson Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.
