ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Jamie Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md.) and Jordan Llewellyn (Jr., Port Deposit, Md.) combined for 36 kills in a four-set loss by the Navy (1-3) volleyball team to VCU (2-2), Thursday evening at the Wesley A. Brown Field House.  The 25-20, 32-30, 17-25, 25-18 win by the Rams was the first of six matches to be played during the Kristen Dickmann Invitational.

"Credit VCU for running a balanced offense and keeping us out of rhythm for most of the night," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.

Set One
VCU, which reach the championship match of the 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed and was predicted to place second in the A10 this year, took early leads of 8-4 and 11-5 and was able to keep Navy from making a run at it over the rest of the set.  VCU outhit the Mids, .333-.156.

Set Two
The frame featured 12 ties and four lead changes.  The Rams had another good start as they built leads of 7-3, 12-7 and 15-12.  The Mids scored the ensuing five points to take a 17-15 lead and eventually jumped in front, 20-17.  VCU tied the score at 20-20, then setter Averi Miller (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded a kill and an ace to give Navy a 22-20 lead.

VCU promptly scored the next four points to reach set point with a 24-22 lead.  Back came Navy with a 3-0 run to reach set point itself at 25-24.  The teams exchanged the next 11 points as the Mids served for the set a total of six times.  The last sideout allowed the Rams to tie the set at 30-30.  Back-to-back VCU blocks gave it a 2-0 lead in sets.

Navy registered five more kills than VCU in the set, 20-15, but the Rams posted a better hitting percentage, .256-.240.

Set Three
Navy was the team to put together a stronger start as the Mids took a 9-4 advantage.  The margin grew to 11-5 before a 6-0 VCU run tied the set at 11-11.  The score remained close until a kill by Jordan Llewellyn ignited a set-closing 7-0 run that extended the match into a third set.

The Mids registered a .414 attack percentage on 15 kills and just three hitting errors, while the Rams posted a (-).094 percentage on six kills and nine attack errors.

Set Four
Navy again took a slim early lead, this time at 6-4.  Neither team held any kind of comfortable advantage during the middle part of the set, which made the score 17-16 in favor of VCU.  The Rams scored five of the next six points to take a 22-17 lead on their way to closing out the set and the match.

Statistical Notes
Navy finished the match with 59 kills to better VCU's total of 51, and the Mids held a .239-.207 advantage over the Rams in hitting percentage.  VCU finished with just two more digs (61-59) and two more blocks (8-6) than the Mids.  However, the Rams won the serving contest as they produced nine aces against five errors and Navy tallied four aces against 12 errors.  

Jordan Llewellyn recorded a career-high 19 kills -- her previous best was 18 and attained Saturday -- and Jamie set a career high with 17 kills.  Jordan also grabbed a career-best 16 digs to lead the team by one over Hannah Hoover's (So., Katy, Texas) count of 15 digs.  Also, Maggie Bodman (Jr., Northbrook, Ill.) contributed eight kills and five blocks.

"We really settled in to how we want to play during the third set," said Labrador.  "Now, we need to develop our ability to sustain that level.  

"It is early in the season and I am confident our ball control will continue to improve."

Up Next
Navy plays host to Michigan State Friday at 7 p.m. to close the second day of the tournament.   The day begins with UAlbany facing Michigan State at 11 a.m. and VCU taking on UAlbany at 4:30 p.m.