ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- After playing a great first set to take a 1-0 lead, the Navy volleyball team battled first-place Colgate to the end of a four-set loss by the Mids to the Raiders, Friday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  The Raiders (12-5, 7-0 Patriot League) won their 10th match in a row with the 14-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20 victory over the Mids (6-10, 2-5).

"There are tons of great things to pull from the match," said Labrador.  "Credit Colgate for really turning up their offense in sets three and four."

Set One
Navy played perhaps its best set of the Patriot League season in controlling set one.  The Mids never trailed and score was tied at five times with the last coming at 12-12.

The Mids then turned a 14-13 lead into a 21-13 advantage on a kill, back-to-back Colgate attack errors, an ace by Isa Boyd, a second kill during the spurt by Anuhea Hananio-Lore, a kill by Siena Morgan and another ace from Boyd.

Navy totaled 13 kills and a .333 hitting percentage and held Colgate to 9 kills and a .077 hitting effort.

Set Two
Navy continued its strong play at the start of the second set as it built leads of 7-3 and 13-8.  Colgate answered and tied the score at 15-15.  The score would again be tied at 16, 17 and 18, then Colgate took a 20-18 advantage.  It was a one-point margin at 20-19, 22-21 and 23-22 before a pair of kills by the Raiders evened the match at one set each.

The Mids still outhit the Raiders in the set, .214-.138.

Set Three
Things turned against Navy late in the third set.  The lead changed hands on three occasions and the score was tied 10 times including at 15-15.  Colgate ran off the ensuing nine points to reach set point with a 24-15 cushion.

The Raiders hit .400 in the set and limited the Mids to a .208 hitting effort.

Set Four
The fourth set played out very similar to the third.  There were eight ties and three lead changes, with the last tie again coming at 15-15.  It soon was a 17-16 Colgate lead when the Raiders went on a quick 3-0 run to build a 20-16 lead.  The Raiders gave the serve back to the Mids on a service error, but then scored back-to-back points on a kill and an ace to gain a 22-18 lead.  That was enough of a cushion for Colgate to win the set and the match.

The Raiders posted 16 kills and one attack error on 32 swings for a .469 hitting percentage in the last set.  The Mids had a solid hitting stanza as well as they finished with 14 kills and four errors on 36 attempts for a .278 percentage.

Statistical Summary
The teams finished with very similar statistics across the box score. Navy totaled 48 kills and 16 errors on 121 attempts for a .264 hitting percentage, while Colgate tallied 53 kills and 17 errors on 135 attempts for a .267 hitting night.  Navy slightly led in aces, 6-5, Colgate narrowly led in blocks, 9-8, and the Mids had a 58-50 lead in digs.  The Mids had eight service errors and the Raiders committed 12.

Individually, Farrah Eike led the Mids with 12 kills and added 10 digs to record the first double-double of her career.  The freshman Morgan had a very productive hitting night as she finished with a career-high 10 kills –– her prior career best was six –– and no errors on 16 attempts for a .625 hitting percentage.  Setter Boyd led Navy in both assists and digs with 22 and 17, respectively, and shared the team lead with a pair of aces.  Amara Chambers snared 12 digs, Julia Humphrey added four blocks to better the three tallied by both Ava Toppin and Grace Burgoyne.

"Siena was on fire tonight," said Labrador.  "She had a really nice mix of shot and hard swings.  Farrah scored some tough points for us, too.  She's been getting better at generating kills when we are out of system.  We saw our servers really challenge Colgate, especially Isa and Lainey Feighery.  

"We are looking forward to bringing the same intensity tomorrow."

Up Next
Navy will be back on the Wesley A. Brown Field House floor Saturday at 6 p.m. when it plays host to Bucknell.