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Oct. 1, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team will try to snap a two-match losing streak Tuesday night when the Midshipmen travel to Baltimore to face Loyola in a 7 p.m. match.

The Mids have played very well over their last two matches against Army and American, but still came away with losses in both outings. Navy lost a four-game decision to the Black Knights in West Point and a five-game contest to the Eagles last Friday night in Macdonough Hall.

"I am a firm believer in that hard works eventually pays off," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "Even though we haven't had the success we wanted to over the last two matches, we worked very hard and played very well in both matches against the two best teams in our league. We can't become frustrated by the two losses. If we bring that same effort every night and are able to clean up a few things here and there, the results we are looking for will come."

Navy's latter match against American marked the first time the Mids were able to extend the Eagles to five games since the two teams began meeting twice a season in 2001. The Mids won the opening game over the Eagles by the score of 30-28, then American evened the match at one game apiece with a 30-14 win in game number two. Navy held a slim lead through the latter half of game three and served for the game at both 29-28 and 30-29, but eventually lost the set by the count of 33-31. The Mids then forced a fifth game with a 30-20 win in the fourth game.

Navy would take a 7-6 lead in the fifth game before American went on a 5-1 run to pull away from the Mids.

Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) led Navy against American with a season-high 24 kills, while Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.) added a career-high 23 kills against the Eagles. Sims also hauled in 13 digs in the match to record her seventh double-double of the season. Also having a strong night on defense for Navy was setter Marissa Watson (Jr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) with a career-high 18 digs, libero Aimee' Burns (Sr., Dallas, Texas) with 16 digs and Dougherty with four blocks.

The loss to the Eagles dropped Navy's overall record on the season to 11-6 and its Patriot League record to 1-2.

Both Navy and Loyola appear to be different teams from the ones who met last year in Annapolis when the Mids posted a 30-24, 30-20, 30-24 victory over the Greyhounds. Navy's 11 wins through September already matches its win total for all of the 2006 season. Loyola, meanwhile, posted a 10-26 overall record and a 7-11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference record last season, but enters Tuesday's match with a 12-8 record on the year and a 4-2 mark in league matches this fall.

Among the results for the Greyhounds this year are wins over George Washington (three games), Marist (five games) and Holy Cross (five games) and losses to North Carolina State (four games) and Lafayette (four games).

Freshman Nina Camioni, who was tabbed as this week's MAAC Rookie of the Week, leads the Loyola offense with an average of 3.40 kills per game and ranks first on the team among six-rotation players with 3.66 digs per game. Sophomore Karlee Woodward stands second to Camioni offensively with 2.71 kills per game and is first on the squad with both a .322 hitting percentage and a 1.01 blocks-per-game average. Freshman Brittany Born is pacing the Greyhounds with a 4.68 digs-per-game average.

Five players on the Loyola team are averaging multiple kills per game this season.

Woodward led all players during last year's match between the Mids and the Greyhounds with 18 kills and a .600 attack percentage. Sims totaled 12 kills, hit .478 and grabbed a match-high 13 digs for Navy, while teammates Dougherty and Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) combined for 19 kills and a .468 hitting percentage.