COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team opened its season with a pair of losses Friday at the Maryland Invitational.  The Mids (0-2) lost a four-set decision (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16) to 2021 ASUN Tournament champions Florida Gulf Coast (1-0), then lost in three sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-12) to the tournament-host Terrapins (2-0).
 
Pacing the Navy offense on the day was Jamie Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md.) with a combined 27 kills and .296 hitting percentage.
 
"I can't say enough about Jamie's level of play today," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "After a great offensive performance this morning against Florida Gulf Coast, Maryland came right after her tonight and she was up to the challenge.  Hitting what she did tonight against the top blocking team in the Big Ten is excellent."
 
Navy will close its weekend with a Saturday afternoon match against Rhode Island.
 
Florida Gulf Coast 3, Navy 1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16)
"I thought we did some nice things with our blocking and defense to hold them (FGCU) to a .177 hitting effort," said Labrador.  "They have some extraordinary players all around the court and their fifth-year players provided tremendous consistency. 
 
"We will clean up some errors and build on some moments of the moments of excellent volleyball we had during the match."
 
Set One
Navy fell behind FGCU, 9-4, but closed to within three points multiple times.  The score was 15-12 when the Eagles ran off the next four points to take a 19-12 lead that the Mids couldn't cut into.
 
FGCU held just an 11-8 edge in kills, but also led Navy in aces (5-3) and blocks (4-1).
 
Set Two
Navy built an 11-6 lead only to see FGCU close to within two points at 16-14.  A kill by Maggie Bodman (Jr., Northbrook, Ill.) and a block by Jordan Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md,) doubled the lead out to 18-14.   The cushion was down to three points at 21-18 until the Mids accounted for the next three points to reach point with a 24-18 cushion.  The Eagles were able to score the next four points to make the score 24-22, but a kill by Ashley Warren (Jr., Pennington, N.J.) gave the Mids the frame.
 
Jamie Llewellyn accounted for six kills and Jordan Llewellyn added four kills.  Those 10 kills in the set were just one fewer than FGCU's team total of 11.
 
Set Three
The third set saw the score tied nine times and the lead change hands on six occasions.
 
FGCU held a 17-14 lead, but Navy soon took a 20-18 advantage.  The score would be tied at 20-20 and 21-21, then a Navy ball handling error followed by an attack error by the Mids gave the Eagles a 23-21 lead.  A Jordan Llewellyn kill sliced the margin in half, but FGCU scored the next two points to close out the frame.
 
Navy held advantages of 12-8 in kills and 4-2 in aces, but the Mids also had five service errors to one for FGCU, committed three more attack errors and had two ball-handling errors.
 
Set Four
The Eagles took an early 7-3 lead, but the Mids drew to within two points at both 8-6 and 13-11.  FGCU responded with a 4-1 run to take a 17-12 lead on its way to closing out the set and the match.
 
Navy again held a slight lead in kills, 8-7, but committed eight service errors and dropped in just one ace in contrast to two aces and one service errors for FGCU.
 
Stats Summary
Navy registered 43 kills and a .139 attack percentage while FGCU totaled 37 kills and a .177 attack percentage.  The Eagles, who advanced to the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, held a 15-9 edge in blocks.  At the service line, the Mids had more aces, 11-9, but also more service errors, 21-7.
 
Jamie Llewellyn and Jordan Llewellyn totaled 27 kills.  Jamie's 14 kills tied her career-best effort and Jordan's 13 was just shy of her career-high of 17.  Jamie also tied her career high with five aces and she shared the team lead with Chris Stephenson (Jr., Leesburg, Va.) with seven digs.
 
 
Maryland 3, Navy 0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-12)
"Maryland gave us nothing easy," said Labrador.  "Matches like this really force us to learn how to generate our own points and not rely on opponents making errors."
 
Set One
The Terrapins jumped out to a 9-4 lead and maintained an advantage of at least four points -- the last was 17-13 -- over the rest of the frame.
 
Navy struggled with its hitting in the set as it finished with seven kills and 10 errors for a (-).094 percentage.  On the other side of the net, Maryland hit .280 (12 kills, 5 errors).
 
Set Two
Maryland took a 10-5 lead at the start of the set.  Navy was able to bring the margin down to three points at 10-7 and 11-8, but the Terps stretched it out again to 17-10.  Back came the Mids and it again was a three-point difference at 19-16.  Maryland scored the next two points (21-16), but Navy again closed to within three points at 22-19.  Consecutive kills took the Terps to set point at 24-19.  A Jamie Llewellyn kill staved off one set point, but a Navy service error gave Maryland the set.
 
Navy hit much better in the second set as it totaled 15 kills and just six errors for a .300 percentage, but Maryland had 12 kills and no errors on 20 swings for a mark of .600.
 
Set Three
Maryland took control of the set in the early going as it jumped out to an 11-2 lead.
 
Stats Summary
Navy finished with just three fewer kills than Maryland, 34-31, but had 25 attack errors and forced just seven.  The Terps held a 13-3 advantage in blocks and a .377-.064 lead in hitting percentage.
 
Jamie Llewellyn nearly matched her performance from earlier in the day with 13 more kills.