Volleyball Takes To The Road For Playoff Chase

10/26/2000 - Women's Volleyball
Volleyball Takes To The Road For Playoff Chase

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Navy volleyball team will hit the road this weekend in hopes of solidifying a berth in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Midshipmen will play at Lafayette on Friday, with a Saturday match to follow at Lehigh. Navy will close the regular season next weekend with matches at Army and Holy Cross.

Navy enters the season's penultimate weekend with a 3-5 Patriot League record. The top-four teams advance to the season-ending league tournament, with Navy entering the week in sixth place, but just one victory out of fourth. Army and Lehigh are tied for fourth place with 4-4 records. The Mids defeated both teams earlier this season in matches at Macdonough Hall.

In other league matches on Friday, Army (4-4) plays at Colgate (5-2), with Holy Cross (4-4) playing at Bucknell (6-1). Saturday night, Holy Cross plays at Colgate, with Army playing at Bucknell.

"The playoffs start now," said head coach Mike Schwob. "We have to be focused and ready to play on Friday night because one loss could mean we are watching instead of playing in the tournament. We could sit back and think about all of the variables and 'what ifs' that could happen to teams in the next two weeks, but we have to only worry about what we can control and that is the outcome of our own matches. Winning will take out all of the guesswork."

Lafayette enters the week with an 0-8 Patriot League record. In their first meeting of the season, October 6 at Macdonough Hall, the Mids defeated the Leopards in three games, 15-2, 15-8, 15-2. Navy outhit Lafayette by nearly .300 points and totaled 11 service aces in the match. Erin Musser (Sr., Industry, Pa.) led all attackers with 10 kills on the night, while both Erica McElroy (So., Henderson, Nev.) and Jamie Leverentz (So., Los Alamitos, Calif.) each had nine digs in the match.

Nay also registered a sweep of Lehigh in the first match of the season, October 7, defeating the Mountain Hawks by scores of 15-10, 15-10, 15-3. Navy nearly doubled Lehigh's hitting percentage on the night, .279-.146, and totaled 50 digs and nine aces to 34 and two for Lehigh. Erin Musser again led the Navy offense with 12 kills, while McElroy, Musser and Melissa Coombes (Sr., Los Altos, Calif.) all had double-figure dig totals. Lehigh's Rochelle Healea led all players in the match with 14 kills.