ANNAPOLIS, Md. –
Morgan Crawford had her first career match with 20 or more kills Friday night, and the Loyola University Maryland volleyball dealt the U.S. Naval Academy its first loss of the Patriot League season, 27-25, 22-25, 25-17, 27-25, at Wesley Brown Field House.
Crawford finished with 24 kills, the most by a Loyola player this season, to eclipse her career-best by seven.
Ava Nepkin added 12 kills, while
Mariah Sanabia and
Elsie Afful both had seven.
The teams split the first two sets before Nepkin had seven of her kills in the third, and the Greyhounds had six kills in the third to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Crawford took over offensively in the fourth, putting away 11 kills in 22 swings without an error.
Navy (6-7 overall, 4-1 Patriot League) took a 13-10 lead in the fourth, but Loyola scored seven of the next nine points to go up 17-15 after an Elise Afful-
Addie Lowe block.
Sanabia's kill gave Loyola a 24-23 advantage and match-point, but the Midshipmen had a sideout kill.
Crawford had a kill to give Loyola its second match-point at 25-24, but again Navy's sideout tied the set at 25-25.
The last two kills came off the arm of Crawford, giving Loyola its third Patriot League win in its last four matches.
Loyola (5-9, 3-2) finished with 14 total kills led by eight from Afful and seven by
Ellie Joffe.
The Greyhounds will be back in action on Saturday with a 4 p.m. match at American.
