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9/28/2002 - Women's Volleyball
Volleyball Ends Long Week with Win

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The Navy volleyball team recorded 13 service aces and 12 blocks on its way to a four-game victory over Holy Cross, Saturday night in Macdonough Hall. The Mids (9-6, 2-0 Patriot League) defeated the Crusaders (4-10, 0-2), 30-18, 30-28, 20-30, 30-19.

"It was a very successful end to a long week for all of us," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "The team began the week with exams, then had a physically and emotionally draining match Friday night against Army, but managed to keep their intensity level up tonight against a very good Holy Cross squad."

Navy's victory against the Crusaders came one day after Navy rallied from an 0-2 deficit in games to beat Army in the Star Match.

Ashleigh Shear (So., Chapin, S.C.) started Saturday's match by serving the first six points of game one. Navy quickly used a strong serve to keep the Crusaders off balance and jumped out to leads of 14-7, 18-9 and 22-13 on its way to the opening-game victory.

Game two was a different story, however. There were six lead changes and 18 ties in the game, with the last one coming at 22-22. After a Navy sideout, the Mids finally scored points off of their own service on consecutive kills by Shear, Erica McElroy (Sr., Henderson, Nev.) and Ashley Van Hartesvelt (So., Breckenridge, Colo.) which gave Navy a 26-22 lead. Navy would eventually pull ahead by five points at 28-23, but the Crusaders closed to 28-27. After the two teams traded sideouts to make the score 29-28, the Mids won the game on a kill from McElroy off of a set from a lunging Shear.

Holy Cross started and ended game three in a hurry, breaking open a 4-4 tie by scoring seven-straight points and eventually taking a 20-9 lead.

Game four began tight, with neither team holding much of a lead. With the score 14-11 Navy, the Mids scored six-straight points to take a 20-11 lead and effectively put the game away.

Van Hartesvelt led Navy with 15 kills, while Kristin Davidson (Sr., Lexington Park, Md.) added 13 and hit .320 on the night. The duo helped key the Navy defense, as well, with Van Hartesvelt recording 10 digs and four blocks, and Davidson totaling five blocks. Katie Mulvihill was one of three Crusaders to total 10 kills on the night, to go along with her 14 digs.

"One of the team goals we set at the beginning of the season was to play consistent volleyball on both Friday and Saturday nights and win a pair of matches on weekends," said Schwob. "This weekend, we were able to achieve that goal."

Navy now begins a difficult stretch during which it will play six of its next seven league matches on the road, starting next weekend with matches at Colgate and Bucknell.