Megan Vehovic led Navy with 11 digs against American.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Cutrina Biddulph and Elizabeth Maloney combined for 24 kills and a .538 hitting percentage to lead American to a three-game sweep over Navy, Thursday night at Macdonough Hall in the Patriot League opener for both teams. The Eagles (5-4, 1-0) defeated the Midshipmen (10-2, 0-1), 30-19, 30-26, 30-21, to improve to 43-0 in league matches since joining the Patriot League in 2001.

"You cannot have breakdowns as we did against a team like American," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "They are smart and well coached and take every inch you give them. At times tonight we made it easy for them. However, the breakdowns we had are all correctable.

"While we are disappointed in losing the first league match of the year, we have to remember that is is just that, the first match. We are still the same team that started the year 10-1. We achieved that record with a lot of hard work. We will learn from tonight and keep working hard and keep improving."

The Eagles broke open game one early, going on a 5-1 run to take a 10-4 lead, then slowly built a 19-9 advantage. Navy closed to within 19-15, but American responded with an 8-1 run to lengthen its lead to 27-16.

American led for most of game two and took its largest lead at 17-9. The Eagles held a 22-16 lead when the Mids rallied and closed to within one point at 24-23. After an American timeout, the Eagles scored three of the next four points to take a 27-24 lead, then scored two of the next three points to jump in front, 29-26.

As a team tonight, the Eagles outhit the Mids, .329-.165, thanks to American hauling in 40 digs to Navy's 29.

Biddulph led all players with 14 kills and two errors on 23 attempts (.522), while Maloney added 10 kills and one error on 16 swings (.562). Sabrina Vasconcelos led all players with 12 digs, one ahead of teammate Courtney Mulford and Navy's Megan Vehovic (Jr., Clymer, Pa.). Ashley Van Hartesvelt (Breckenridge, Colo.) led the Navy offense with 13 kills and tallied a match-high four blocks.

Navy will return to action Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match at Georgetown, then will play host to Army in the Star Match Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., in Macdonough Hall.