FAIRFAX, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball capped off the Mason Invitational with a 3-0 sweep of Navy on Saturday at George Mason’s Recreation Athletic Complex.
The Monarchs have now won five matches in a row, the longest win streak in program history, and improve to 8-2 overall.
"Today's effort was more indicative of how we need to compete," said ODU Head Coach Fred Chao. "The team was prepared to start the match strong, and rebounded from errors quickly."
ODU 3, Navy 0
The Midshipmen (0-9) took an early 5-3 lead to start the first set, but ODU pulled even at 6-6 thanks to kills by LeeAnne Lowery and Bryanna Jones. Ashlynn Belcher served an ace to cap off a 4-1 swing that put the Monarchs in front at 14-10. Old Dominion stretched that lead to 20-13 to force a Navy timeout, and the Mids responded by winning the next four points out of the break. A couple of Myah Conway kills swung momentum back to the Monarchs though as they captured the set, 25-19.
ODU led the second set from start to finish. After a Lilly Lutz attack error pushed the Monarch lead to 6-3, the Mids were able to get to within a point at 10-9 on a Conway attack error. A few rallies later, though, a Lowery kill opened a 4-0 run as ODU pulled away, 15-10. Navy again came back at 19-18 on a Hannah Hoover service ace, and the teams traded points down the stretch. With ODU leading 23-22, a bad set by Navy’s Arleigh Hanson and an ace by Kate Kilpatrick clinched another set for the Monarchs.
ODU and Navy traded multiple runs early in the third set. The Mids were ahead 7-5 when Tshilanda Diouf converted an attack, Elisa Maggi followed with back-to-back kills of her own, and Jones served an ace. Navy came up with a 3-0 response to wrestle back control at 10-9, ODU earned the next four points to retake the lead 13-10, but the Mids surged ahead with a 5-0 push. Navy’s Julia Humphrey and Katie Jackowski recorded a block to tie the set at 24-24, but Belcher assisted Conway on a kill and Maggi served an ace to complete the straight-set victory.
Finishing with double-digit kills were Conway with 12 and Maggi with 10. Diouf was next with nine kills and Jones finished with seven. Belcher and Levick combined for 35 assists, Belcher served two aces and Kilpatrick served four, a new career high. The defensive effort was led by Lowery with five blocks and Diouf with four. ODU’s dig totals were spread out with Kilpatrick tallying nine, Maggi right behind her with eight, Levick had seven and Jones six.
As a team, ODU hit .216 for the match compared to a .194 attack percentage for Navy. The Monarchs led the Mids in points (61-40), kills (45-31), service aces (9-1), assists (41-29) and digs (38-30) while Navy edged ODU in blocks (8-7). The final set featured 13 of the match’s 18 ties and there were a total of nine lead changes on the day.
The match marked the third meeting between the two programs, a series that ODU now leads 2-1.
Up Next
The Monarchs will be back in Norfolk next week when they host Radford, Rutgers and UMES in the Old Dominion Invitational on Sept. 19-21.
"This weekend was a special one, and I'm grateful to be coaching this team. Winning on the road has been great, but I'm looking forward to the real homecoming when we host our tournament at the ODU Volleyball Center," added Chao.