BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland volleyball scored Sunday's final six points to earn a five-set win and secure its first-ever season sweep of the U.S. Naval Academy, 25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-11.
Ava Nepkin had 16 kills, while
Morgan Crawford and
Elsie Afful both had 11 in the match.
Afful registered her first collegiate double-double with a career-best 10 block assists, including teaming with
Sydnee Peters for one on match-point.
The victory was Loyola's second this season over the Midshipmen after the Greyhounds won in four in Annapolis, Maryland, last month. Loyola first played Navy twice in 2013 after joining the Patriot League. This year's sweep is the program's first in the series over the 14 seasons the teams have played twice.
Navy (10-13 overall, 8-7 Patriot League) took an 11-9 lead in the fifth set after a Farrah Eike kill.
Nepkin sided out for Loyola (8-16, 6-9) with a kill of her own.
That gave the Greyhounds the serve with
Gabi Verdicchio at the line. Each of Verdicchio's serves created tough sets and attack attempts for the Midshipmen.
An attack error by Eike tied the set at 11-11, and Nepkin put Loyola in front, 12-11. Another Navy hitting miscue made it a two-point lead, and Nepkin had her 16th kill of the day to give Loyola a match-point attempt at 14-11.
Afful and Peters locked up a block on Eike that secured the victory.
Peters added eight kills, as did
Ellie Joffe, while they each were in on three blocks. Nepkin contributed to four blocks, while Crawford and
Addie Lowe each tallied four. Lowe also had eight kills.
Addie Huber led Loyola with 25 digs, and Crawford had a double-double with 14. Verdicchio also had a double-double with 11 digs to go with a match-high 30 assists.
Madison Monahan had 24 assists for Loyola.
The Greyhounds will close their regular-season with a 3 p.m. match on Saturday, November 14, against College of the Holy Cross.
