Navy at Army
Friday, Sept. 27 • 7 p.m.
Gillis Field House • West Point, N.Y.
Last Match - Navy, 3-2 (Nov. 11, 2023 / Annapolis, Md.)
Live Video - ESPN+

Navy at Colgate
Saturday, Sept. 28 • 5 p.m.
Cotterell Court • Hamilton, N.Y.
Last Match - Colgate, 3-1 (Nov. 17, 2023 / Hamilton, N.Y.)
Live Video - ESPN+

The Weekend Advance
•    Navy heads to the Empire State this weekend for a pair of matches, starting with the annual Star Match against Army Friday at West Point (7 p.m.).  The match is part of the Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA.
•    The Mids then face Colgate, winners of the last three league tournaments, Saturday (5 p.m.) in Hamilton.
•    Links to the ESPN+ stream of and live statistics from Navy's matches can be found on NavySports.com.

Last Weekend
•    Navy opened Patriot League play with a pair of losses.
•    The Mids fell in three sets (25-18, 25-11, 25-19) to American in Annapolis, then lost a five-set match (25-18, 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13) to Loyola in Baltimore.

New Faces
•    Navy has used nine starting lineups in its 11 matches, with 12 different players starting at least one match.
•    Navy has had five players make the first start of their respective careers this season.
•    Five returning players have started more matches this season than they had in their careers entering 2024, with Ava Toppin needing one more start to become the sixth Mid to do so..
•    Navy had five players record the first kills of their respective careers during the Wake Forest Invite.
•    Among returning players, six have already recorded more kills this season than they had in their careers prior to this year, with Paige Buzzerio needing one more kill to increase the total to seven.

Army Preview
•     Army dropped both of its Patriot League matches last week, losing in five sets at Lehigh and in four sets at Bucknell.
•    The Black Knights enter Friday's match with an overall record of 4-7.
•    The two teams split matches in 2023, with the home team winning each outing.  The Black Knights won a 25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 25-22 decision in West Point and the Mids earned the Star with a 16-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-12 victory in Annapolis.
•    Neither team has many players with Army-Navy match experience.
•    Navy players have totaled 10 kills, 21 assists, seven aces and three blocks against the Black Knights.
•    Army's roster has tallied 41 kills six assists, 15 digs and nine blocks against the Mids.

Colgate Preview
•     Colgate opened Patriot League play with wins over Lafayette in three sets and Lehigh in four sets.
•    The Raiders, who will play host to American Friday, have compiled a 4-8 record on the season.
•    Colgate defeated Navy three times last season, with two of those matches going five sets. The Raiders first won a 27-25, 20-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12 match in Hamilton, then earned a 16-25, 9-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-5 win in Annapolis.  Colgate would go on to defeat Navy, 25-12, 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on its home floor.
•     Colgate's current players have more match experience against Navy than the Mids do against the Raiders.
•    Colgate players have totaled 63 matches and 224 sets played against the Mids.  In that time, the Raiders have amassed 276 kills, 697 attempts, 35 aces, 311 digs and 59 blocks against Navy.
•    In contrast, the Mids have accrued 27 matches and 94 sets played against Colgate, along with 38 kills, 92 attempts, 11 aces, 129 digs and 16 blocks.

Hoover Rises on Digs Lists
•     Hannah Hoover is closing in on becoming the seventh Navy player during the program's Division I era and the fifth during the rally scoring era to grab 1,000 career digs.  She enters the weekend with 934 digs.
•    The last Mids to accrue 1,000 career digs were record holder Sydney Shearn (1,708) and setter Patricia Mattingly (1,104) in 2018.
•    She has moved into ninth place on Navy's career digs list –– is 10 digs out of eighth place –– and fifth place during the rally scoring era.
•     Hoover snared 36 digs in Navy's five-set match at Loyola on Sept. 22.
•    Her total ranks second among Mids for the most digs in a match in Division I history (since 1991).
•    It also is currently tied for fifth place for the most by a player in a five-set match in the NCAA this season.

Up Next
•     The Mids return home for a pair of matches in the Wesley A. Brown Field House on Friday against Lehigh (7 p.m.) and Saturday against Bucknell (4 p.m.).