<p>Trident Classic Results – Day 2
Central Connecticut State def. New Jersey Inst. of Technology, 3-2 (30-27, 28-30, 27-30, 30-23, 15-8)
Navy def. Marist, 3-2 (23-30, 30-21, 33-31, 27-30, 15-10)
NJIT def. Marist, 3-2 (30-22, 23-30, 30-17, 23-30, 15-7)
CCSU def. Navy, 3-0 (30-21, 30-27, 30-28)</p>
<p>For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, September 8, 2007
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772</p>
<p>Mids Fall in Trident Classic Finale</p>
<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. – After winning a dramatic five-game marathon match against Marist, the Navy volleyball team stumbled in the finale of the Trident Classic Saturday night, losing a three-game decision to Central Connecticut State in what served as the title match of the two-day tournament. </p>
<p>“It was a very disappointing end to what was otherwise a strong weekend by us,” said Navy head coach Mike Schwob of the match against CCSU.</p>
<p>The Mids improved to 2-0 during the tournament – Navy defeated the New Jersey Institute of Technology in four games Friday night – with a 23-30, 30-21, 33-31, 27-30, 15-10 win over Marist Saturday afternoon. </p>
<p>The two teams took turns controlling games one (Marist) and two (Navy), which led to a very close game three. The Mids held advantages of 25-21, 28-25 and 29-26, but could not close the door on the Red Foxes. With Navy serving for the game at 29-26, Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) was blocked by Marist players on back-to-back plays to make the margin just one point, then a kill by Joanna Foss tied the score at 29-29. The Red Foxes then took a 30-29 lead following a service ace from Alexandra Schultze. She would then serve for the game, but Sims recorded a block of her own to tie the game at 30-30. A kill by Kelsey Schaefer gave Marist its third opportunity to serve for the game, which Navy wiped out when Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) posted a kill to the the game for the 11th time. Navy proceeded to receive a break when Marist was called for a ball-handling error on the proceeding play, then Sims knocked down her sixth kill of the game to give the Mids a 2-1 adv!
an!
tage.</p>
<p>The Mids were again unable to hold onto a lead in game four, taking advantages of 26-24 and 27-25 before Marist scored the final five points of the game to even the match at two games apiece.</p>
<p>The Red Foxes carried that momentum over into the start of game five by quickly taking a 3-1 lead. A Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) kill gave the Mids a much needed sideout, then Sims served five-straight points to give Navy a 7-3 lead. Marist would soon pull to within two points at 8-6, but Navy went on a 6-1 run to open up a 14-7 lead. The Mids committed a service error and back-to-back attack errors before Sims ended the two hour, 20-minute match with a kill.</p>
<p>“After give up leads in several games, we were very happy to finally hold onto one in game five,” said Schwob. “We were able to find a nice rhythm on both offense and defense in the fifth game.”</p>
<p>Navy totaled 11 kills against just three attack errors in game five, while holding Marist to three kills and three hitting errors over the final game.</p>
<p>The Mids totaled 74 kills and a .191 attack percentage in the match, while the Red Foxes accrued 55 kills and a .152 hitting percentage. The only other sizeable statistical difference between the teams in the match came in service errors, where Navy totaled 17 to just six for Marist.</p>
<p>Dougherty led all players with 22 kills and a .304 hitting percentage, with Sims adding 19 kills and a match-high 18 digs. Also playing well on both offense and defense for Navy was Nikki England (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.), who finished with a double-double of 13 kills and 10 digs.</p>
<p>With Central Connecticut State also winning its matches Friday night over Marist and Saturday morning in five games over NJIT, the final match of the tournament between the Mids and the Blue Devils would decide the tournament champion. CCSU would hold off a pair of late Navy rallies to claim first place at the Trident Classic with a 30-21, 30-27, 30-28 win over the Mids.</p>
<p>Navy took an early 7-4 advantage in game one, but the Blue Devils would score 10 of the next 11 points to open up a 14-8 lead. The Mids could pull no closer to CCSU than four points at 21-17 over the remainder of the game.</p>
<p>CCSU jumped out to a 17-10 lead in the second game before Navy slowly climbed back to within one point at 23-22. At that point the Blue Devils went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 28-22. After the teams traded sideouts, Navy overcame five match points for CCSU before a kill from Katie Karkow ended the game.</p>
<p>Game three was much of how the first two games went with Navy starting the slowly and having to work itself back into the game. The Mids were down 15-8 early on before rallying to tie the game at 23-23. Both teams tallied a sideout to make the score 24-24, then the Blue Devils quickly scored three-straight points on a kill, a service ace and a Navy attack error to open up a 27-24 lead. A service error by Amanda Olmstead returned the serve to Navy, then Krista Eschelman (So., Germantown, Md.) posted a kill for Navy to make the score 27-26. Eschelman was blocked to end the next play, but a ball-handling error by Amanda Bayer gave Navy the serve with the score 28-26. Navy gave CCSU a 29-27 lead when Dougherty recorded a service error, then Sims knocked down her ninth kill of the match to make the score 29-28. The contest ended when Meredith Biri (So., San Antonio, Texas) served into the middle of the net.</p>
<p>Errors, often unforced ones, was perhaps Navy’s undoing in the match. The Mids gave 29 points in the match on serving, receiving, blocking and ball-handling errors, while conversely, the Blue Devils gave Navy just 19 points on similar miscues.</p>
<p>Altogether in the match, CCSU outscored Navy by just 14 points (90-76). </p>
<p>“It was fitting that the last two Connecticut points of the match came by way of our unforced errors,” said Schwob. “It seemed every time we fought hard to get back into the game and give ourselves a great opportunity, our own play ended our rally. Having a better start to games and cleaning up what happens on our side of the net are two areas we must improve on before we start league play.”</p>
<p>Take away the errors, and the two teams played to a near standstill statistically. The Blue Devils recorded just three more kills (44-41), one more dig (46-45) and three more blocks (11-8) than Navy did.</p>
<p>Individually for the Mids, Gibbs totaled 10 kills and just one attack error on 16 swings for a .562 hitting percentage to lead the team in both categories. Dougherty tallied nine kills and five blocks over the 80-minute contest, while Sims finished with nine kills and 11 digs.</p>
<p>The loss ended a five-match winning streak for the Mids and dropped Navy’s record to 6-2 on the season. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, improved to 8-2 on the year with their two victories Saturday. </p>
<p>Navy’s 2-1 record on the weekend gave the Mids second-place in the Trident Classic standings, with NJIT placing third (1-2) and Marist fourth (0-3). </p>
<p>Navy will next be in action Tuesday when the Mids play at Saint Francis (Pa.).</p>