EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette College volleyball team defeated Navy in four sets (25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16) Saturday evening in Kirby Sports Center, en route to earning the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Championship Tournament.
 
The Leopards completed the season sweep of Navy and earn the program's highest seed ever for the conference tournament.
 
Three Leopards reached double-figure kill totals on Senior Day, led by senior Grace Tulevech's 13 off the bench. Freshman Phoebe Glass put down 12 and classmate Abby Nieporte had 12.
 
Lafayette got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 15-7 lead to force Navy into using both of its timeouts. Navy was able to rattle off four-straight to make it 19-13, but the Leopards answered and got a kill from Glass and forced the visitors into an error to take the set.
 
Navy took the early lead in the second, forcing a Lafayette timeout after a 5-1 run to make it 12-7. Nieporte put an end to that after the timeout and sophomore Katie Weston delivered back-to-back aces to get the Leopards right back in it.
 
The teams traded blows before Lafayette took control with a 4-0 run that included kills from Glass, sophomore Gracie Gibson and Nieporte to make it 19-17.
 
Gibson had a strong outing with seven kills, hitting .429 with five rejections.
 
The Maroon and White scored three of the set's final four points and Tulevech clinched it with a kill.
 
Lafayette was able to hold a 17-15 advantage in the third before the Midshipmen battled back to extend the match.
 
In the fourth, Lafayette quickly took control and went on a 5-0 run to make it 8-4. The lead grew to as many as nine points in the frame and sophomore Alyssa Vitale closed the match with an ace.
 
Vitale had 48 assists, four aces and three blocks while Weston had three aces and 19 digs. Junior Grace Steurer added 10 digs in a strong defensive outing by the Leopards.
 
Lafayette will have to wait to know its next opponent, as they will face the winner of a quarterfinal match in the semifinals of the Patriot League Championship at Colgate on Saturday.