HAMILTON, N.Y. -- After Colgate took a 2-0 lead in sets, the Navy volleyball team stormed back to win the next three as the Mids (3-6, 1-0) defeated the Raiders (5-5, 0-1) in five sets (15-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-21, 15-9), Friday afternoon at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y., in the Patriot League opener for both teams.
Navy's
Farrah Eike recorded five of her match-high 24 kills in the fifth set, with her final swing ending the 126-minute match.
"This was a huge win for this team," said Navy head coach
Paco Labrador. "It speaks to the culture that has been cultivated here over many years. We talk about 'staying in it, longer' and supporting each other no matter the score. Team captain
Grace Burgoyne was the perfect leader for us today. She said exactly what we needed to hear at all of the right times."
The result ...
* was Navy's first 'reverse sweep' since it accomplished the feat at Army on Nov. 11, 2023;
* ended the team's nine-match losing streak to the Raiders (last win was Oct. 7, 2022);
* and ended a 10-match Navy losing streak to Colgate in matches played in Hamilton (last win was Nov. 3, 2018).
Set One
The set was tied at 7-7, then Colgate held an 11-9 lead before the Raiders opened up a 15-10 advantage. Navy was within four points at 15-11 and 16-12, but that was as close as the Mids would get in the frame.
Colgate hit .395 (18 kills, 3 errors) and Navy hit .143 (12 kills, 6 errors).
Set Two
The Raiders slowly build leads of 7-4, 10-5 and 13-7 on their way to claiming the second set as Colgate hit .448 (14 kills, 1 error) and limited Navy to a .200 mark (15 kills, 8 errors).
Set Three
Colgate held a slim lead of 5-3 in the early part of the frame when Navy turned the tables and scored the next six points to take a 9-5 lead. Three of those points came off of kills from Eike, who had totaled six kills (with 6 errors on 19 attempts) through the end of the second set. Colgate slightly whittled away at the margin as it soon was a 9-6 and 14-11 score, but Navy tallied the ensuing five points to build a 19-11 advantage.
The Mids hit .391 in the set (13 kills, 4 errors) thanks in part to Eike totaling six kills and one error on nine attempts. Her six kills alone matched the entire kill total for the Raiders in the set as Colgate hit (-).038 (6 kills, 7 errors).
Set Four
Navy tried to build some separation in the fourth set as it turned a 9-7 lead into a 15-11 advantage, but Colgate rallied and soon drew to within two points at 18-16 and then tied the frame at 19-19. A kill from
Izzy Picard, a block by the freshman tandem of Picard and
Avery Maddux and a Colgate attack error quickly gave the Mids a 22-19 lead. The teams played sideout volleyball over the next four points to take the Mids to set point with a 24-21 lead. Eike, who had given the Mids that three-point cushion with her seventh kill of the set, teamed with
Siena Morgan for a block to send the match into a fifth set.
Navy registered 14 kills and 7 errors (.189) in the set and held Colgate to 9 kills and 6 errors (.088).
Set Five
Navy scored back-to-back points to take a 4-2 lead and wouldn't give up the advantage over the rest of the stanza. The cushion was never more than three points and dipped down to one at 7-6 through the first half of the set. Morgan tallied a kill, Colgate committed ball-handling error,
Caroline Buffum notched a kill, a Colgate attack error and a kill from
Ellen Gundlach gave the Mids a 12-6 lead. That was more than enough of a lead for the Mids to earn the victory, with Eike's fifth kill without an error on 9 attempts in the final set ending play.
Statistical Summary
The hitting percentage differences between the teams through set two and then the over remainder of the match were dramatic:
Navy in sets 1-2 - 27 kills, 14 errors, 77 attempts, .168
Colgate in sets 1-2 - 32 kills, 4 errors, 67 attempts, .418
Navy in sets 3-5 - 38 kills, 14 errors, 84 attempts, .286
Colgate in sets 3-5 - 20 kills, 16 errors, 86 attempts, .047
"Colgate was on fire offensively in the first two sets," said Labrador. "After set two, we changed a few things defensively and just reminded our blockers about some technical cues. Once we cleaned that up, I thought our passers and servers did an incredible job of allowing our hitters to settle in and generate more points."
Overall, Navy posted 65 kills and a .230 hitting percentage to better the 52 kills and .209 hitting effort by Colgate. The Mids also led in digs (70-59), while the Raiders accrued more aces (5-3) and blocks (13-9).
Individually, Eike finished with 24 kills and 8 errors on 49 swings for a .327 hitting percentage, and also added 13 digs, 2 blocks and 2 aces. She recorded 18 kills with 2 errors on 30 attempts (.533) over the course of sets three through five.
Not to get lost in Eike's gaudy numbers was the play of Buffum (15 kills), Gundlach (11 kills) and Morgan (9 kills, .467). Defensively,
Amara Chambers grabbed 21 digs and Maddux recorded six blocks.
"Farrah scored with a really nice mix of speeds and range," said Labrador. "Caroline, Ellen and Siena all made clutch plays when we needed them. Amara was seeing the hitters really well in the last three sets. Her defense was the key to getting the runs of points we had to pill away."
Up Next
Navy will play at Holy Cross Saturday at 4 p.m.
