ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Ava Toppin tallied six of her career-high 15 kills and added a career-best 11 blocks during the course of a five-set victory by the Navy volleyball team over Bucknell, Saturday night at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis.  The Mids (7-10, 3-5 Patriot League) rallied for a 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 25-11, 15-12 victory over the Bison (7-10, 4-4).

"Every player stepped up for us at some point tonight to make a play when we needed it to win," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "To say it was a total team effort would be an understatement.  Both of our setters did a masterful job of running the offense."

Toppin's 11 blocks ties her for third place for the most by a Mid in a match since statistics began being counted with the 1995 season, and was just two shy of tying the school mark of 13 set by Megan Boyd in a five-set match at Morgan State on Nov. 8, 2005.  It also tied her for the Navy mark for the most in a Patriot League match with Jen Williams (Lehigh, 1996, four sets) and Beth McArthur (Lafayette, 2005, five sets).  Additionally, it established a new facility record (opened in 2008), bettering the 10 blocks tallied by Navy's Alex Cassel in 2012 (Army, four sets) and Michigan's Jess Robinson in 2021 (vs. Navy, four sets).

Set One
The score was tied at both 15-15 and 17-17, then Navy went on a 4-0 run on a kill by Julia Humphrey, a kill by Grace Burgoyne, an ace by Anuhea Hauanio-Lore and a kill by Farrah Eike.  Bucknell shaved the lead in half (21-19), then a kill from Eike and an ace from Amara Chambers built a 23-19 lead for the Mids.  The Bison again tallied back-to-back points to make it a two-point set at 23-21.  Eike registered another kill to take Navy to set point.  Bucknell once again posted a pair of kills and the Mids were in serve receive with a scant lead of 24-23.  Eike tallied her sixth kill of the opening set to give the Mids the 1-0 advantage.

Offense dominated the set as the Mids had 19 kills and a .447 hitting percentage and the Bison posted 17 kills and a .378 hitting effort.  Individually, Eike had six kills and no errors on 13 swings and Bucknell's Tijana Kostic totaled eight kills and one error on 16 attempts.

Set Two
Bucknell raced out to a 4-0 lead at the start of the frame and led for the rest of the set.  Navy was able to cut the lead to as few as two points at 5-3 and 15-13 before the Bison fully separated to even the match.

In contrast to set one, defense dictated the second set.  The Mids hit .000 (7 kills, 7 errors) and the Bison hit .166 (14 kills, 8 errors).

Set Three
The lead changed hands five times and the score was tied on nine occasions. 

What would prove to be the last tie was at 16-16 when Bucknell slowly gained a 21-17 lead.  The visitors soon took a 23-18 lead when the home team climbed back into the frame with a 4-0 run on a kill from Toppin, a kill by Eike, a block by the tandem of Toppin and Eike and a Bucknell attack error.  After a Bucknell timeout, Eike was blocked to make the score 24-22.  A Bucknell service error extended play and gave the serve to the Mids, but a kill by the Bison closed out the set.

Both teams struggled again on offense as the Bison bettered the Mids in hitting percentage, .154-.128.

Set Four
Navy had a great start to the set as it scored five of the first six points and eventually took a 12-4 lead.  The Mids hit .440 in the frame with 11 kills and no errors on 25 attempts.  Navy scored on eight of Bucknell's 11 serves and limited the Bison to a .057 hitting mark (9 kills, 7 errors, 35 attempts).

Offensively, Grace Burgoyne alone posted five kills on five swings for Navy.  Defensively, Navy tallied seven blocks in the set with Toppin having a hand in five of them.

Set Five
The final abbreviated set to 15 points featured 10 ties and seven lead changes.  

Bucknell held an 10-9 lead when a Toppin kill tied the score.  Navy's Siena Morgan finished the next point with a kill, and that led to a timeout being called by the Bison as they trailed 11-10.  Toppin knocked down a kill after the break to make it a two-point Navy lead at 12-10.  The margin was cut in half by a kill from Bucknell's Bella Rodriguez.  The Mids answered on a kill by Morgan, then a Bucknell attack error took Navy to set point with a 14-11 lead.

Rodriguez promptly posted her fifth kill (on six swings) of the set and 20th kill of the two-plus hour match to make it 14-12 on the scoreboard.  The Mids went to Toppin on the ensuing play and her seventh attempt of the set and 24th of the match found the floor to end the match that last two hours and 18 minutes and included a combined 320 attempts by the two teams.

Navy totaled 12 kills and one error on 18 attempts in the final set for a sizzling .611 hitting percentage. The Mids hit a combined .512 (23 kills, 1 error, 43 attempts) over sets four and five.  

Statistical Summary
Navy finished with just one more kill than Bucknell, 62-61, but the Mids had 18 errors and the Bison finished with 26.  Aiding that was Navy tallying 19 blocks and Bucknell finishing with just six.  All of that together led to the Mids hitting .288 and the Bison .210.

Navy's 19.0 blocks ties the facility record (Michigan vs. Navy, 2021, four sets), is tied for fourth place for the most by a Navy team in school history, is tied for first for the most by the Mids during the rally scoring era (since 2001) and was one shy of tying the school mark for the most in a league match.

Toppin finished with 15 kills and one error on 24 attempts for a .583 attack percentage.  She tallied 10 block assists and one solo block.  

Fellow middle blocker Julia Humphrey also had a productive all-around match as she posted six kills and no errors on 12 attempts and, while Toppin was roaming in the back row, added a career-high tying seven blocks.

Not to be lost in the defensive play at the net, which also included Morgan and Eike each posting six blocks, was Chambers totaling 15 digs, eight assists and three aces and Hauanio-Lore snaring 11 digs and nearing a double-double of her own with eight kills.  Also, Burgoyne well surpassed her previous career high of eight kills with 13 this evening, Eike finished with 12 kills and setters Isa Boyd (20) and Lainey Feighery (27) combined for 47 assists.

"Blocking came up big for us," said Labrador.  "Ava and Julia are great leaders at the net and we executed the game play well.  Those two really carried the load offensively, which was started strongly by our pin attackers scoring early in the match.  I'm excited about the balance our offense is developing and am looking forward to a strong second half of the league schedule."

Up Next
Navy and Bucknell, whose last eight matches in the series have included four five-set matches, will meet again Saturday in Lewisburg.