WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Army (16-6, 10-3) totaled 25 kills and allowed just 11 over the last two sets to rally from a 2-1 deficit and defeat the Navy (11-11, 7-6) volleyball team in five sets, 25-17, 22-25, 25-27, 25-14, 15-9, Saturday night at Gillis Field House in West Point, N.Y.

Five of the last eight and seven of the last 14 matches in the series between the teams have gone five sets.  

Navy also played a five-set match Friday night at Holy Cross and has now played seven five-set matches this year.  The Mids have played 27 five-set matches since the start of the 2022 season.

"I thought we played our game in some long stretches, but Army won the passing battle tonight," said Navy head coach Paco Labrador.  "They are tough to beat when they can run all of their offensive options.  We are going to get back to work Monday and focus on our remaining Patriot League opponents to position ourselves to take what we learned tonight into the tournament."

Set One
Neither team built any kind of lead in the early going.  The score was tied at 12-12, then Army opened up a 17-13 lead.  The Mids would only be able to close to within as few as three points before Army won the set.

Set Two
Navy opened up a 9-4 lead and eventually built a 15-8 advantage.  It was a 19-14 advantage for the Mids before the Black Knights tied the score at 19-19.

An Army service error and a Navy block gave the Mids a 21-19 lead.  The teams traded points until the Mids took a 24-22 lead to reach set point.  A block by the tandem of Ava Toppin and Grace Burgoyne evened the match at one set each.

Set Three
The Mids had another good start to the set as they took a 9-2 lead out of the gate.  Army quickly chipped away at the deficit and soon tied the score at 13-13.  The score would be tied at 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, then the Black Knights had back-to-back kills to take a 20-18 lead.  The teams again exchanged points before the Mids used a 3-0 run to take a 23-22 lead, with the last two points coming by way of Farrah Eike kills.  Army recorded back-to-back kills to regain a 24-23 lead and serve for the set.

A service error by the Black Knights tied the score at 24-24, then another kill from Eike gave the Mids a 25-24 lead.  Army answered with a kill, but Eike again notched a kill to give the Mids a 26-25 lead.  A kill from Anuhea Hauanio-Lore ended the third set.

Set Four
The stanza was tied at 11-11 until Army scored the next nine points to take a 20-11 advantage on its way to forcing a fifth set.

Set Five
Army took early leads of 5-2 and 6-3 before Navy pulled to within one point at 6-5.  The Black Knights soon took leads of 9-5 and 11-6 to take control of the abbreviated set.

Statistical Summary
Army outhit Navy .296-.038 over the last two sets as the Black Knights tallied 25 kills and nine errors to better the 11 kills and nine errors recorded by the Mids.  That allowed Army to finish with a 72-53 lead in kills and a .267-.206 advantage in hitting percentage for the match that last one minute shy of 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The Black Knights also produced 10 aces against 13 errors while the Mids were not credited with an ace and committed 11 service errors.

Eike led the Navy offense with 15 kills while Toppin and Hauanio-Lore each finished with 10.  Defensively, Hauanio-Lore and Amara Chambers each snared 17 digs, Eike had five blocks and both Toppin and Burgoyne had four blocks.

Up Next
Only two weeks remain in the regular season.  Navy will be home for matches Nov. 8 vs. Loyola and Nov. 9 against American, then will play Nov. 15 at Colgate in the regular season finale.

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