Oct. 24, 2014 Final Stats
BALTIMORE - Loyola University Maryland volleyball hit .333 in the opening set, but the U.S. Naval Academy rallied for a four-set Patriot League win, 25-27, 25-23, 25-11, 25-22, on Friday night in Reitz Arena.
Navy had a 15-10 advantage midway through the first set, but Molly Cichosz put away one of her match-high 17 kills to draw Loyola within four. With a Navy ball-handling error, a Jane Lukas-Mindy Maloney block and an Elena Scarano ace, the Greyhounds were within a point, 15-14.
The Midshipmen sided out on a Gaby Smith kill, but Loyola eventually took a 19-18 lead on a Navy attack miscue.
Cichosz gave the Greyhounds a 24-23 lead with a kill, but Smith responded with a sideout kill for the Midshipmen following a Navy timeout. Smith's attack error, however, gave Loyola another set-point opportunity, but she came back with another kill to even the match at 25-25.
Corri Waters then put away a kill for Loyola to give it a 26-25 lead, and Waters and Lukas locked up a block to seal the first-set for the Greyhounds.
Loyola's strong hitting percentage slipped awayin the second and third sets; the Greyhounds hit a negative percentage with 17 kills and 18 errors in those stanzas.
The Greyhounds looked poised to push the match to a deciding fifth set, going up 17-11 in the fourth on a Lukas kill, but Navy drew to within a pair, 19-17, on a Katie Sylakowski kill.
Back-to-back hitting errors by the Midshipmen pushed Loyola within four of a set win, 21-17, but Sylakowski sided out with an ace, and Maggie Phillips had consecutive aces to make it a one-point match, 21-20.
The teams traded sideouts to 22-21, but Smith then put away two-straight kills and had a solo block to give Navy match-point, 24-22. Alex Cassel and Star Steele combined for a match-winning block immediately thereafter.
Cichosz led all players with 17 kills, and Lukas pitched in 11. Waters added a career-best nine kills, and Maloney had six. Sylakowski led Navy with 12 kills, and Smith had 11.
Micah Duzey totaled a match-high 19 digs, while Anna Eckstein finished with 15 for Loyola.
