BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Maggie Bodman (Jr., Northbrook, Ill.) recorded four blocks in the fifth set to help the Navy (13-10, 10-4 Patriot League) volleyball team rally from deficits of 13-9 and 14-11 in the final frame to edge Lehigh (13-13, 4-10), 18-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 16-14, Friday night at Grace Hall in Bethlehem, Pa.  

The Navy victory coupled with Lafayette defeating Loyola tonight on the other side of the Lehigh Valley means the Mids will earn the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament with either one victory by Navy or one loss by the Greyhounds.  Each team has two matches remaining.  Navy plays Saturday at Lafayette and Nov. 13 at home against Bucknell, while Loyola plays Saturday at Bucknell and plays host to Army on Nov. 12.

"Credit to Lehigh for making us struggle the entire night," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "We never really found a rhythm in any phase of our game.  There were a few critical points that went our way and our servers stayed steady down the stretch."

Navy entered its Sept. 25 match against American having lost 21-straight matches when it lost the first set.  Starting with that match against the Eagles through tonight, Navy has now won three matches over the last six weeks when it has lost the opening frame.  Additionally, the Mids have won three league matches this season when they trailed 2-1 in sets.

Set One
Navy held a 6-4 lead, but Lehigh scored the next seven points to take an 11-6 advantage.  The Mids were able to draw to within two points at 11-9, 12-10 and 13-11, but the Mountain Hawks soon built a 19-12 cushion.

Navy totaled eight attack errors in the set -- four courtesy of Lehigh blocks -- and forced the Mountain Hawks into just one hitting error.

Set Two
The teams played point-for point for the majority of the set until a 5-0 run gave Navy an 18-13 lead.  The margin stayed at least four points over the remainder of the frame.

Navy held a 7-2 lead in aces through two sets, but trailed, 6-0, in blocks.

Set Three
Navy tried to build some separation as it took an 11-6 lead.  Lehigh was able to tie the set at 11-11 and slowly gained an 18-13 advantage.  The Mids fought back and closed to within two points at 20-18.  However, a Navy service error followed immediately by a Lehigh ace doubled the lead out to 22-18.  

The Mids again climbed back into the stanza and soon it was just a 23-22 lead for the Mountain Hawks.  A Navy attack error and an ace for Lehigh closed out the frame.  

The Mountain Hawks dropped in five aces in the set and the Mids had only two.

Set Four
Navy jumped out to a 7-2 lead at the start of the set, then extended its advantage to 14-6 and 17-9.  Lehigh chipped away and made it a three-point set at 19-16.  The Mids scored the next point to take a 20-16 lead, then the Mountain Hawks tied the set at 20-20.

The teams traded points (21-21), then a Lehigh service ace followed by a Jaime Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md.) kill boosted Navy to a 23-21 lead.  A Lehigh kill was followed by another kill from Llewellyn, which took the Mids to set point with a 24-22 lead.  The Mountain Hawks sliced the lead in half with a kill to extend play.  A wayward attack by the Mountain Hawks sent the match to a fifth set.

Lehigh held a 16-11 lead in kills in the set, but also had eight attack errors to just five for Navy.

Set Five
After Navy took a 6-3 lead, the score was tied at 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8.  Lehigh took a 10-8 lead, then a kill by Jordan Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md.) made the score 10-9.  Two Lehigh kills sandwiched around a Navy attack error gave the Mountain Hawks a 13-9 lead.  Jamie Llewellyn answered with a kill, then a bad set by the Mountain Hawks made the score 13-11 and resulted in a Lehigh timeout.  The stoppage worked as a Lehigh kill ensued to take it to match point with a 14-11 lead.

Ashley Warren (Jr., Pennington, N.J.) started the rally with a kill, then a kill by libero Hannah Hoover (So., Katy, Texas) pulled the Mids to within 14-13 and forced a second Lehigh timeout.  The third chance for the Mountain Hawks to serve for the match ended with Bodman and Averi Miller (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) combining for a block to tie the score at 14-14.  Warren returned to the service line and dropped in an ace to take the Mids to match point.  The contest ended with Bodman and Jamie Llewellyn teaming up for another block.

Lehigh held an 11-5 lead in blocks entering the fifth set, but Navy posted a 4-1 advantage in blocks in the abbreviated frame.

Statistical Summary
Lehigh held a slim 58-53 advantage in kills, Navy held a 66-58 lead in digs and the block totals for the teams became more even after the fifth set as it was just a 12-9 advantage for the Mountain Hawks.  The Mids were the better team at the service line as they were on the positive end of both aces (10-9) and errors (12-5).

Jordan Llewellyn paced the Navy offense with 17 kills and Jamie Llewellyn added 12 kills.  Both Bodman and Warren just missed double figures as each finished with nine kills.  Warren also added three aces and led the Navy passers with 14 digs.  She was one of five Mids to snare at least 10 digs, a quintet that included setter Miller who totaled 44 assists, 13 digs, four blocks and three aces.  Bodman ended the evening with nine blocks.

"Jordan generated some great offense and Maggie was a force at the net," said Labrador.

Patriot League Standings
13-1 Colgate
11-2 Army (Army has the tiebreaker over Navy)
10-4 Navy
8-6 Loyola (Loyola has the tiebreaker over Navy)
6-8 Bucknell
5-9 Lafayette
4-9 American
4-10 Lehigh
1-13 Holy Cross