Oct. 18, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy volleyball team will close the home portion of its Patriot League season this weekend with matches Friday against Holy Cross and Saturday against Army. Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m. in Macdonough Hall and are free to all fans.

The shuttle bus service from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to the U.S. Naval Academy will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday. It is suggested that fans wishing to utilize the shuttle bus not arrive at the stadium until after 5:30 p.m. to allow the parking lot to empty out after the conclusion of the 1 p.m. Navy vs. Wake Forest football game.

Prior to the start of Friday's match against the Crusaders, Navy will hold senior night ceremonies for the five members of the Class of 2008 and their families: Aimee' Burns (Dallas, Texas), Lindi Conner (Kingman, Kan.), Rachel Dougherty (Derwood, Md.), Nikki England (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Lizzie Grider (Marion, Ind.).

The Mids enter the weekend -- and the start of the second half of the Patriot League season -- in fourth place in the league standings with a 4-3 record. Holy Cross travels to Annapolis with a 0-7 league record, while Army enters a Friday night match at American with a 5-2 mark. Only the top four teams in the final regular season standings will advance to the Patriot League Tournament.

"Taking out the obvious emotions of the Army-Navy rivalry, this weekend means a lot towards the race for the playoffs," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "This weekend is a great opportunity for us to continue pushing for a playoff berth. We will need clean, solid efforts both nights.

"We played very well the first time we faced Holy Cross, so we want to come out with another strong match Friday. A big difference in the first match between us and Army was that they took advantage of their opportunities and we did not. For us to win Saturday that will have to change."

The Mids posted back-to-back league wins for the first time this season last weekend with three-game victories at home over Lehigh and Lafayette. Statistically as a team against conference opponents, Navy ranks third in the league in hitting percentage (.250), defensive hitting percentage (.182) and service ace average (2.04 sapg). The Mids also rank fifth in kills (15.23 kpg), assists (13.27 apg) and digs (14.73 dpg), as well as sixth in blocks (1.62 bpg).

Individually, Dougherty, who garnered her second-consecutive Patriot League Player-of-the-Week accolade this week, is second in the league with a 4.88 kills-per-game average. Additionally on offense, Alexa Gibbs (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) leads the team and ranks fifth in the league with a .369 hitting percentage, while Marissa Watson (Jr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) stands fourth in assists (11.38 apg). Defensively, Krista Eschelman's (So., Germantown, Md.) 1.05 blocks-per-game average ranks seventh in the league and Burns, Navy's libero, stands 10th in the conference with 3.08 digs per game.

The Crusaders were outhit by their opponents by a .286-.102 margin during the opening half of the league season. Christine Strawson is pacing the Holy Cross offense with 3.39 kills per game, while Molly Anderson's 3.55 digs-per-game average leads all players on the squad. Defensively among six-rotation players, Strawson is averaging a team-high 2.61 digs and 0.50 blocks per game.

Navy totaled a .349 attack percentage and held Holy Cross to a mark of .089 in the first meeting between the teams, a 30-21, 30-24, 30-25 victory by the Mids Sept. 22 in Worcester, Mass. The Mids used a 5-0 run late in the opening game to build a 23-17 advantage, rallied from a 22-21 deficit in game two and quickly built a 10-4 lead at the start of the third game.

Navy players dropped in 10 service aces while allowing the Crusaders to tally just three aces in the nearly 90-minute match. Individually, Navy's Gibbs led all players with 13 kills and a .550 attack percentage in the contest. Joining her with double figure kills in the match were teammates Dougherty and Jessie Sims (Jr., Etowah, N.C.) and Holy Cross' Strawson, all with 11 kills apiece.

Navy setter Watson also played very well in the victory, tallying 39 assists, six kills on eight swings, two aces and six digs.

Army ranks first in the Patriot League in kills (16.81 kpg), assists (15.15 apg) and blocks (2.69 bpg), while ranking second in hitting percentage (.251). Rachael Breinling, meanwhile, leads the Black Knights and ranks among the top-five players in the league in hitting percentage (.371), kills (4.70 kpg) and blocks (1.08 bpg). She is one of five players on the team to be averaging multiple kills per game against league opponents. Additionally, Army setter Maureen Bannon leads the league with 12.83 assists per game and libero Shara Hoffman ranks fifth with a 3.85 digs-per-game average.

Navy also totaled 10 service aces the first time the Mids faced Army this season, but the Black Knights held Navy's offense to a .196 attack percentage on their way to recording a 30-25, 17-30, 30-28, 30-26 victory Sept. 23 in West Point. The Mids let slim leads of 23-22 in game one and 25-23 in game three slip away from themselves during the match. The Black Knights tallied 65 kills to 54 for the Mids in the match, while also holding a 10-5 advantage in team blocks.

Dougherty led all players on the afternoon with 19 kills, but she needed 53 swings to reach that number and totaled just a .226 attack percentage. Sims notched a double-double in the two-hour 20 minute contest with 15 kills and 18 digs. Four Army players knocked down 10 or more kills in the match, with Breinling totaling 17 kills and a .485 hitting percentage and adding four blocks. Defensively for the Black Knights, Hoffman grabbed a match-high 19 digs, while Jamie Clark and Bannon both finished with five blocks.