LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Caroline Buffum tied a carer high for kills and Grace Burgoyne set a career best during a four-set victory by the Navy volleyball team over Bucknell, Saturday afternoon at Davis Gym in Lewisburg, Pa.  The Mids (8-10, 4-5 Patriot League) registered a 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17 victory over the Bison (8-10, 4-5).

Navy had defeated Bucknell in five sets one week ago today in Annapolis.

"Road wins are hard to come by in this league," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "I thought we kept our focus after set one and kept chipping away at Bucknell."

Navy has now won three of its last four matches, with the lone defeat being a four-set loss to first-place Colgate.

Set One
Navy edged its way out to three-point leads at 17-14 and 19-16 only to see Bucknell soon go on a 5-0 run to take a 23-20 advantage.  The teams traded sideouts to take the Bison to set point with a 24-21 lead.  Farrah Eike tallied back-to-back kills to draw Navy to within one point at 24-23, but a block by the Bison gave them the set.

Navy had more kills in the set than Bucknell, 16-14, but the Mids had eight attack errors to just two for the Bison.

Set Two
The opening set featured 10 ties and five lead changes.  The second set included 10 ties and six lead changes.

This time it was Bucknell's turn to hold a late three-point cushion at 18-15.  The Bison soon led 20-18, but the Mids went on a 5-0 run to build a 23-20 lead.  Anuhea Hauanio-Lore started the spurt with a kill, then she teamed with Ava Toppin for a block.  Amara Chambers followed with an ace, Buffum had a kill and then she and Toppin combined for a block.

Back-to-back kills for Bucknell made it a one-point difference at 23-22, but Buffum, who did not play in set one, had her fourth kill of set two to take the Mids to set point.  Bucknell extended play with a kill, then Toppin tallied her third block of the frame to even the match at one set each.

Set Three
The third stanza was close –– there were 11 ties and seven lead changes –– until the midpoint of play.  The score was tied at 15-15 when the Mids built leads of 18-15, 20-16 and 21-17.  A kill by the Bison made it a 21-18 margin, then kills by, in order, Buffum, Toppin and Buffum again made it a 24-18 lead.  Bucknell again recorded a sideout on a kill, only to see Buffum's fifth kill in the set send the match to a fourth set.

Set Four
Navy used a 5-0 run to take the lead for good at 11-7.  Bucknell could only close to within as few as two points on five occasions with the last coming at 15-13.  The Mids answered with a 4-1 run to build a 19-14 lead on their way to closing play.

Statistical Notes
After recording eight attack errors in set one, Navy tallied just nine over the last three sets.  The Mids were outhit .333-.174 in set one, but held leads of .220-.174 in set two, .350-.167 in set three and .560-.138 in set four. Combined, Navy held a .349-.162 advantage over sets two to four and a .296-.206 lead for the match.

Most other statistics between the teams were nearly equal.

Individually, Buffum tied her career high with 16 kills despite playing only sets two through four.  She also well surpassed her previous career high for hitting percentage, .333, with a mark of .560.  She recorded 16 kills and two errors on 25 attempts in her three sets, including seven kills and no errors on eight swings in set four.

Burgoyne also had a career-best effort as her 14 kills bettered her previous high water mark of 13, which was set last Saturday in the five-set win over the Bison.  She also hit a healthy .429.

Joining that duo in double digits was Toppin.  The senior team captain tallied 11 kills and no errors on 22 attempts (.500) and added eight blocks.  This week's Patriot League player and defensive player of the week recorded 15 kills, a .583 hitting percentage (15-1-24) and 11 blocks last Saturday.  She totaled 26 kills (2.89 kps), a .543 hitting percentage and 19 blocks (2.11 bps) in the two matches.

Defensively, Chambers snared 14 digs, Hauanio-Lore had 13 and Farrah Eike, who received 39 times of Bucknell's 73 serves and recorded just one receiving error, had 12 digs.  Also, setter Isa Boyd just missed a double-double with 28 assists and nine digs.

"We had some huge step-up moments by freshmen," said Labrador.  "Madeline Bildeaux did a great job of starting in the middle.  We needed Caroline to step out of her normal position and hit on the right side.  She was virtually unstoppable over there.  She was the spark we needed and her physicality and energy were tremendous. 
 
"Ava continues to bring the highest level of execution, day in and day out.  Grace is playing like a veteran attacker, mixing her speed and finding ways to score in tough scenarios.  Amara has been working hard at her serve receive and defense and that effort is paying off with some clutch passes when we needed them."

Up Next
The Mids return home for matches Friday against Lafayette (7 p.m.) and Saturday against Lehigh (7:30 p.m.).

"We are looking forward to returning home for a pair of critical league matches," said Labrador.