Navy losses to Leopards in last game of season – Volleyball News
The Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis hosted an important volleyball match on Friday, November 11, where the Navy volleyball squad crossed paths with Lafayette Leopards. The thrilling fixture featured five sets and tested the skills of both teams
on centre court. Leopards proved to be better and settled for victory by posting 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13). The Midshipmen struggled to save the match and remained unsuccessful in tackling the Leopards, which ultimately led them to a defeat by
a close margin.
Erin Fortner of Navy topped all the scorers with her career high 23 kills. In addition, she also had 10 digs for Navy. Carolyn Ewert was equally active on the court and compiled 12 kills. The Navy captain, Holy Berger, delivered five serve aces and assisted
the team with 17 digs.
On the other hand, Kaitlynn Zoller emerged as the top contributor for Leopards as she registered 14 kills and eight digs in the match. Likewise, Danielle Towslee followed up with 12 kills with a hitting percentage of .417. Sarah Frohnapfel and Belcher switched
places and gave out a great performance at setting. They distributed 24 and 16 assists, respectively.
First whistle of the referee set the course of action for two teams. Leopards jumped out to a good start in the opening set. They led the scores and seized first set with 5-point margin at 25-20. Navy hit back strongly in the next set and gained equal status
with 25-19 win. They remained on the winning course and improved to 2-1 in the match by securing third set, 25-14. Fourth set was closely contested and both sides frequently traded leads. Nonetheless, Leopards managed to win the set and created the dead-lock
of 2-2.
Following the tie of game score in fourth set, Leopards kick started the action in fifth set. They opened with powerful serves and hit the ball with great accuracy. Navy was stunned with back-to-back attacks from the opponent and trailed behind with the
gap of six points at 7-1. Leopards continued with hard hitting and added quick points. However, Navy put up a great effort and chased the score. They hit the equalizer at 13-all but Leopards were quick to put an end to tussle with match points at 15-13 and
announced match victory.
Lafayette squad improved to 10-16 record on season with the help of victory against Navy, whereas the loss shifted the Mids to 6-22 on the year.
Larry Bock, the Head Coach of Navy Volleyball, regretted the loss of season ending match but he appreciated the amount of effort put in by his players. He expressed his views about the match in the following manner: "This match was a lot like our entire
season. We played so hard. A lot of teams would have packed it in for the season some time ago, and they wouldn't have been able to put together a rally in the fifth set as we did tonight. But to the credit of our players, they kept fighting. We also had extended
stretches where we played solid volleyball, in particular in the second and third sets. But we also had stretches where we needed to clean things up more."
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