Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
3-47-12 / Patriot
Navy
3-26-8 / Patriot
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 25 | 25 | 26 | 0 |
| Navy | 27 | 27 | 28 | 3 |
Navy Wins Star in 3-0 Setback
October 10, 2014 | Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2014
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Army held late leads in each set, but Navy scored the critical points in a 3-0 victory on Friday night at Alumni Hall. The Mids won the first two sets by identical 27-25 scores and the third 28-26 to secure the volleyball star and even the star series between the two schools at 1-1.
The Mids improved to 6-8 on the season and 3-2 in Patriot League contests, while Army fell to 7-12 overall and 3-4 in the conference. The Navy win snapped an eight-match losing streak to Army. Vanessa Edwards posted a double-double with 36 assists and a team-high 16 digs, while Nicole Perri paced the Army offense with 10 kills.
"The bright lights got to us tonight," head coach Alma Kovaci said. "We had leads in both of the first two games and couldn't close them out. Our blocking and defense struggled, and we made some mental errors tonight, but we have to give credit to Navy and its crowd. They did a fantastic job and deserved this win. We will learn from the loss tonight, but have to rebound quickly because we have a good opponent in Lafayette tomorrow."
Army opened the match with the first three points, including a service ace to begin the competition. Navy responded to tie the score at three aside and the match stayed close until Army went ahead 12-8 on an ace by Shannel Chong that caught the back line. The lead extended to 16-10 on a kill from Amber Clay and an attack error by the Mids forced them to call timeout. Navy resumed play out of the stoppage with a kill by Maggie Phillips and a block that trimmed Army's advantage to four, but Clay scored another point and Navy's attack error regained the six-point lead for the Black Knights at 18-12.
Navy then rallied with five of the next six points (19-17), but the run ended on a Clay kill. The two rivals traded the next four points, before Army scored twice to make it 23-19. Navy used its final timeout and put in the next two points (23-21), and four of five to force an Army timeout at 24-23. The game was tied at 24 following Tara Dotzauer's point, and locked again at 25-25. Army used its last timeout of the first set following Gaby Smith's kill, but Navy finished off the set with another Smith smash.
Navy went ahead 5-2 in the second frame, but Army bounced back to take a 7-6 lead. Through the first 30 points, the set was tied at 15-15 and neither side led by more than two points until Army secured a 20-17 edge after a Navy error. The Mids scored three of the next four points out of a timeout to pull within one, prior to a spike by Perri and Molly McDonald's kill that made it 23-20. Two straight by the home team forced Army to call timeout. Alex Cassel's kill tied the score at 23 and the set was tied twice more before an attack error put the Mids at set point when Army used its final timeout. The second set ended like the first with a Smith kill as Navy took a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Mids came out strong with in third set, scoring seven of the initial nine points. Army battled back and tied the score at 13-13 with a 5-1 spurt. Navy used a timeout to stop the momentum. From there the two went on the seesaw prior to Army claiming a 20-18 edge with three consecutive tallies. Facing another late deficit, Navy ripped off a 5-1 run and moments later the score was knotted at 24-24. The Black Knights avoided two match points before yielding the final two points as Navy won 28-26.
Army continues play on Saturday when it faces Lafayette at 7 p.m. in Easton, Pa. The match can be seen live on Patriot League Network.
