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You can click on the hyperlink above to make a $1 donation through Cash App if you like what you hear. You can also support the Mids and the show at the same time. Navy Sports Central is a proud affiliate partner of Fanatics.com, the Ultimate Fan Gear Store! Click on the link to start shopping now!
Hi everybody, my name is Karl Darden and I'd like to welcome and thank all of you for joining us today on Navy Sports Central. I'm your host, and this is the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation where we take a deeper dive into Navy Sports as we head into the holidays. We see that Navy has closed the gap significantly in the Star Series against Army. The fight is on as the Mids and the Black Knights are locked in a tight race, with the first 1-13 victories being crowned the winner. In our Sports Update, we'll briefly recap the football team season and then we'll see how both swim teams picked up their stars, and this is probably a good time to check in with the wrestling team as well. So stick around for all that news, as well as our deep dive question of the day and mid-watch segments when we come back.
Karl:Alright, we are less than two weeks away from Christmas and another semester is wrapping up in the yard. Whether you are a regular listener or this is your first visit, thanks for taking the time. I will say right off the bat that my one day morning period following Saturday's game is officially over, and while I still don't feel up to talking about it specifically, I'm at the point now where I can at least give you my thoughts on the season, and, by the way, this is why I would make a horrible post game analyst following a Navy loss to Army and football. In fact, there is a standing rule in my house that if the Mids lose, no one is to bring up the subject for at least a week because I get so bummed out. So obviously that's not the right frame of mind to be in to deliver some hard hitting and unbiased post game observations, and I'm not kidding about that either. For those seven days I don't want to talk about the game. I don't even want to hear it being brought up. I stay away from anything that reminds me of the loss in any way during that time, and that includes reading our class Facebook page. I know that's a little bit over the top, but I can't help it. That's just the way I'm wired. Now with that, let's go ahead and move on to my thoughts on the season. So I think it's probably best to start with what my expectations were going in.
Karl:Though Coach Newberry was a known quantity, this was his first season as head coach and it couldn't have been easy taking over for a man like Ken Neymar Tallolo, who was on the sidelines for more Navy wins than any other coach in the history of the academy. The other factors to consider were a new offensive coordinator who was sticking to the triple option, basic principles. But let's face it, the critical components of Coach Chestnut's systems were brand new to the players and the coach is still on the staff who had to teach it. So there was a learning curve on both sides there. Now, defensively, I wasn't too worried. Certainly, having to deal with a team like Notre Dame would be tough, but I felt like the defense was good enough to keep the mids in just about every game, assuming they were healthy. So, taking all that into account, I figured if the team could finish at 6-6, with a stretch goal of 7-5, I'd be happy. Obviously, the team came up short on those numbers, so that was kind of tough. But the five wins, with three of them being shutouts, was something positive to keep building on and I only see this defense getting better under Coach Volcker.
Karl:Now, offensively, this was about as tough a season for Navy quarterbacks as I can remember. For whatever reason, it was a real challenge just putting someone under center who was totally healthy, whether it was Ty Lavettai's knee and later rib injury, or Blake Horvath's thumb that knocked him out for the rest of the year. The football gods just were not kind to the mids of the season. Learning a new offense is tough enough, but when a team winds up having to start four different quarterbacks in one year, developing some consistency is a pretty tough ask. All that said, I think the team fought hard in every game, regardless of the situation. I'm sure there are some plays they'd like to have back, but you really can't fault the effort. I feel especially bad for the seniors. They arrived in Annapolis at the height of the pandemic and stuck it out for all four years. It would have been great to send them off with one more win over Army, but that's just the way things go sometimes. My hope is that the players who are returning can use this experience to get the team back to at least seven wins next year. Okay, that's all the time I'm going to spend on football.
Karl:The Mids weren't able to pick up the star there, but there was some great news to share with respect to swimming and diving. Both the men and the women beat Army last week. Now, it wasn't as easy as it might have been in years past, but as a competitor, I just think having a few tough contests during the course of a season keeps athletes sharp, and these two meets were a battle for both squads. Actually, though, the point differential for the women was closer than it's been since 2000,. I just didn't see the Black Knights breaking that 34-year losing streak to the Mids, and the big reason was they were going up against too much depth in some key races. This was especially true in the relay events. The Mids finished 1, 2, 3, 5 in the 200-yard medley relay and 1, 3, and 4 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, to grab the majority of the points in those two races. Still, the score was tight through 18 events. And then Senior Gabi Baldwin went into the water for the 200-yard backstroke. Less than two minutes later she got her hand on the wall first and the Mids had the breathing room they needed. They held off the Black Knights the rest of the way, needing only one of the five teams they entered to finish the 400 freestyle relay to seal the win and grab the star. And, as I mentioned earlier, they took three of the top four spots, making the final score 162-138. So the Navy women swimming in diving streak against Army is intact at 35 wins and counting.
Karl:Now, the outcome of the men's meet was in doubt until the last couple of events. Things went back and forth until about the 200-yard breaststroke, and that's when Navy's Juan Mora who was, by the way, a freshman competing in his first Army meet swam a career-best 154-53 to give the team the momentum it needed. The divers also played a huge role by finishing 1, 2, and 4 in the 3-meter springboard, and they took the top three spots in the 1-meter event as well. There, blake Shaw was first followed by Finnean Gelbach and then George Moore. That put the Mids in a position where they only needed to finish 2nd and 4th in the 400-yard freestyle relay to get the star, and they ended up going 2, 3, and 1 by final score of 154-147. So congratulations to both the men and the women on a couple of hard-fought wins there. And despite the outcome of the football game, the Mids are now just one win behind the Black Knights in the star competition, which is fairly typical for this time of the year.
Karl:The winter sports season is looking very competitive as well, and now everyone's focus will shift to February, where there will be seven stars on the line. That month this year, because of the good start that Army got off to, is going to be especially tight. The next step going forward is going to be really critical getting to that magic number of 13. One of those big wins the Mids are looking to pick up is in wrestling. So I think this is a good time to see how things are going with Cary Kolat and and the rest of the team.
Karl:Now, in case you missed it, the Mids are now ranked 17th in the country following a couple of big early season wins against Illinois and Pittsburgh, and in fact they are currently 5-0 in dual meets. In their latest contest against Ohio, the team ran off five straight victories and overcame a 6-0 deficit to win by a score of 27-12. Andrew Serniglia wrestled for the first time in a month and he came from behind to secure a 7-5 win to get the Mids on the board and cut into that early Bobcat lead. His classmate and team captain, grady Grease, was dominant in his match, earning a major decision by an 11-2 score. Coach Colott noted in an earlier interview that the team's depth is a real strength this year and that could be a real difference maker in a couple of months when Army comes to Annapolis on February, the 16th.
Karl:Okay, that's going to take care of our sports update and our Deep Dive segment is coming up next. Alright, our Deep Dive segment today is going to focus on the changing landscape in college football and specifically how it might affect Navy and the other service academies. But before we get going, I'd like to thank my classmate, Doug Conkey, for sending me several of the questions that I use to create this content. Doug and I talk frequently via messenger about Navy sports, mostly football, but we've discussed others, including basketball and lacrosse. Anyway, Doug and I were chatting this past weekend about a number of things related to college football, and the first topic he raised was how the scheduling of the Army-Navy game potentially impacts bowl eligibility.
Karl:I think everyone who follows college football knows that six wins is typically what's required to qualify for a bowl invitation. Of those six, at least five have to be against an FBS opponent. So, in other words, teams can count one win against an FCS program, but not two, and that's actually what got Army last year. They did end up with six wins, but only four were against an FBS team. So from a bowl qualifying perspective, it didn't even matter that they got that last win over the mids, they spent the postseason at home. Now it turns out that bowl invitations usually go out right after the conference championship games, and that's the first Saturday in December. The Army-Navy game is played on the second Saturday, and it's been that way since 2009.
Karl:One big reason this change was made was to give the game its own national stage. Army Navy is the last college football game played before the bull season begins. The conference champions have already been decided and the whole country can tune into America's game with no others to worry about. The one drawback is that by the time the bullbits go out, both Army and Navy will have only played 11 games. So one legitimate question is what happens in a situation like this season if either team picks up their sixth win in this rivalry game, it being the last one of the year? And furthermore, does it warrant moving the Army Navy game to an earlier date? So the result isn't the books before the bids go out.
Karl:I'll answer the last question first. Moving the date of the game isn't necessary, at least the way I see it, and here's why. If you look at all the seasons the Mids have qualified for a bull game since 2002, they picked up that sixth win to become bull eligible before their 11th game every time except 2014. They beat South Alabama on November 28th of that year to get to 6 and 5. And that earned them an invitation to the Poinsettia. Bull Navy had an agreement to play in that bull game if they qualified. That year and every other season the Mids played in a bull game. They picked up their sixth win with a couple games to spare. And if you're wondering about their earliest date that they qualified, that would be in 2004 when they beat Rice on October 23rd to go to 6 and 1. They later went on to defeat New Mexico in the Emerald Bowl 30-19. So I don't think moving the game is necessary based on this past history. Besides, there isn't another date available where Army Navy would enjoy the same exclusivity. We already know that the first Saturday in December wraps up Championship Week and even if you could schedule it on the Sunday, going up against the NFL would be rating suicide. So I definitely prefer keeping the Army Navy game on the second Saturday in December.
Karl:Now that brings me around to the first question what happens when the Mids or the Black Knights get that sixth win in the twelfth game of the year. Truthfully, the short answer is nothing. Remember that magic number of six only makes them eligible to get invited to a bull game. There's nothing automatic about it. Now it is possible for a particular bull committee to have an agreement with the team. Navy has done that more than once, with the most recent time being with the Military and Armed Forces bull committees. In a situation like that, if they didn't get that sixth win, the committee would likely have a backup team in mind to fill that spot.
Karl:Personally, it wouldn't bother me if the Mids didn't go to a bull game in this situation. I get the fact that they'd missed out on some bull dollars and that revenue is important to the athletic program because it can be spread across all different sports. But from a competitor standpoint a team really should have a winning record going into that twelfth game to remove all doubt when it comes to bull eligibility. That's been the case for the past 20 years for the Mids and I don't see any reason for that to change. So in a case like this year, where the team needs that sixth win in that last game to break even on the year, I'm okay with them not going to a bull game, the extra revenue aside, a win over Army still has some pretty significant value from a recruiting perspective.
Karl:The other topic that came up when Doug and I were exchanging messages last week was how much of an impact the transfer portal is having on the college game. All I can say is welcome to college free agency folks and at the service academies. That door only opens in one direction. In fact, my brother and I were talking about this last weekend. It seems like when the announcers called out a player's name after he made a play close to half the time, it was followed by the transfer from, you know, an insert school name here. It's pretty crazy stuff when you think about it. I don't have any problem with the athletes entering the portal in an attempt to go with another program. They really should have the same freedom as the coaches do. But the thing that concerns me is making sure that they do it for the right reasons. For every Jalen Hertz and Caleb Williams, there are dozens of players who entered the portal and wind up no better off or even worse than they were before. Those are the ones I worry about. Let me explain by briefly recapping the two success stories.
Karl:Jalen Hertz was an outstanding quarterback at Alabama. He was just a victim of some really bad timing. Hertz led the Crimson Tide to back-to-back national championship games in 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, they lost to Clemson in 2016. And the next year Hertz did get some payback by beating the Tigers in the college football playoffs semifinal, but he got off to a rough start in the national championship game that year. Coach Nick Saban made a change after half time and ended up going with a very talented freshman by the name of Tua Tagovai Loa. Alabama ended up winning that game, beating the University of Georgia in overtime. Hertz played one more year in Tuscaloosa before transferring to Oklahoma for the 2019 season, and he had an outstanding senior year, leading the Sooners back to the CFP semifinal when many thought they wouldn't make it back after Kyle and Murray went to the NFL.
Karl:So for Jalen Hurtz, the transfer portal was a pretty good move. That senior season at Oklahoma got him drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and now he's one of the league's top quarterbacks. Shortly after Jalen Hertz moved on to the pros, coach Lincoln Riley recruited Caleb Williams to come to play for him in Norman. But when the coach took the position at the University of Southern California, williams entered the transfer portal and followed him there. That made perfect sense to me, of course. He ended up winning a Heisman Trophy last year and, despite having a bit of an off year this season, he'll probably still go pretty high in the draft, assuming he turns pro. So those are what I would consider two transfer portal success stories, but it doesn't always work out that well for everyone.
Karl:Now, technically, an athlete can only enter the transfer portal once, at least for right now. There actually might be a change to that coming. The second time would be if they decide to go to graduate school, still have some eligibility left and want to continue their college career wherever they get their graduate degree. There are also waivers that can be granted on a case-by-case basis. I imagine there are a lot of these being granted during the pandemic, but I'm thinking they may be occurring a little less frequently now. My main concern is that the athletes who are thinking about entering the transfer portal are going into it with their eyes wide open. Do they have the right people advising them? Have they looked at the situation from all angles? If they're a scholarship athlete, how's that going to be affected? Or is this just a knee-jerk reaction to a situation they can overcome with a little bit more maturity. Those are all important questions.
Karl:Now here's a guy I thought should have never entered the transfer portal, and the name may surprise you. It's Sam Hartman, who transferred from Wake Forest to Notre Dame after the 2022 season. This year with the Irish was his sixth year playing college football and he's 24 years old Now. I do want to clarify here that I'm speaking strictly from the position of Hartman's earnings potential as a pro quarterback. There are also some factors involving name, image and likeness that drove his decision, and I get that. Maybe you can't blame him for grabbing the money while he can. And, by the way, having a strong NIL infrastructure is going to be a really valuable recruiting tool for athletic programs moving forward. I'm just wondering if the one at Wake Forest had that much less to offer compared to Notre Dame's. Anyway, let's stick to the football discussion here.
Karl:In his two previous seasons at Winston-Salem, hartman led the Demon Deacons to an outstanding 11-3 record, including a bowl win. They followed that up in 2022 by going 8-5, defeating a tough Missouri team in their bowl game that season. Hartman racked up some pretty impressive numbers during that time and I'm sure the pro scouts were watching him closely. Then he decides to enter the portal and wound up landing in South Bend. My guess is that others convinced him that it would be good for his career. Notre Dame was still a big brand name in college football and he would be on national TV just about every week. Finally, he probably thought it was a chance to compete for a national championship, though, given how Notre Dame stacked up against the top half dozen teams, I personally didn't see that happening.
Karl:It turns out things didn't go as planned. Notre Dame finished at 9-3, and they never really threatened to crack the top 5. I think the closest they got was number 9. The Irish merely won the games they were supposed to win with Hartman under center. Now, if they had beaten Ohio State, that would have been something. But the Buckeye defense held Hartman to just 175 passing yards, which was 50 yards below his average of 225, and the Irish lost in the final seconds of the game. In the loss to Louisville, he got picked off three times and finally, in Notre Dame's third set back against Clemson, the Tigers defense really shut him down. Hartman was just 13 or 30 for 146 yards. He didn't throw a touchdown pass and he was intercepted twice. The Irish finished the season ranked number 16 in the country, and I thought that was pretty generous considering they had three losses.
Karl:My point is, if the goal was to improve his draft stock, Hartman would have probably been better off staying at Wake Forest. The NIL dollars up front was something he had to look at, but I wonder how that stacks up against a rookie contract for a first round NFL draft pick at quarterback. Hartman was a much more prolific passer at Wake Forest, so staying in that system and adding to the numbers certainly couldn't have hurt. Mzir at Notre Dame had its moments, but his touchdown passes dropped by over 36%. He went from 38 down to 24, and he had 79 fewer completions on 127 fewer attempts. There was no improvement to speak of in Hartman's game and by transferring he may have very well cost himself a first round NFL contract where the money is significantly better.
Karl:Here's another interesting fact as of today, there are over 100 quarterbacks in the transfer portal. About 100 players, 100 quarterbacks. Now think about the domino effect this can have on certain programs. How much impact does chasing a player in the portal have on developing the athletes who are already in your program? I'd be curious to know what strategies these top tier programs have in place for recruiting and developing high school athletes versus the use of the portal. My gut tells me that maintaining a solid recruiting pipeline to quality high school programs remains the path to long term success, but I could be wrong, I guess, at this point. Only time will tell.
Karl:By the way, I do want to raise one more issue before wrapping up this discussion on the transfer portal, and that is how all these changes affect Navy's ability to stay relevant, or Army or Air Force for that matter. I think, because of the type of player Navy coaches are looking for, it won't have a huge impact. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt to lose a linebacker like Chad Hodges, who wound up a starter at TCU after he entered the portal in 2021. The fact is, the team will always have a small number of players who exceed expectations in their development. That, coupled with the fact that maybe they wanted to play Division 1 football more than they wanted to be a Navy or Marine Corps officer, meant that going into the portal was the right move for them. Mikhail Hayward is another good example. He's at Appalachian State now and doing pretty well, but I think most football players who decide to go to Navy understand the value proposition. They are very talented three and potentially four star athletes who want to be part of something bigger first, but still want to compete in football at the Division 1 level. The Naval Academy gives them a chance to do just that. So, despite the transfer portal and some of the rule changes that limited the effectiveness of the triple option, I really believe that Navy and the other surface academies can still have a seat at the table. It's all about adapting and it doesn't hurt to have their proper perspective either.
Karl:Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now, but before we do that, I did want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy Sports. The first is to join the Navy Sports Nation Group Facebook page. I've got a link to that in the show notes. Just click on it, answer a couple of questions and you'll be good to go. The second way takes even less time. Just hit the follow button on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. It can be Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart Radio, it doesn't matter. Once you do that, every episode will be downloaded to your directory when it's released and you can listen to it whenever you're ready. So please consider becoming a member of our group and you can actually tap that follow button right now to show your support for the podcast. I'm looking forward to having you join us. We'll be right back. Okay, thanks for staying with us on Navy Sports Central.
Karl:Karl Darden here with you, and I'd like to take a few minutes in part two of our deep dive segment to discuss how the College Football Playoff Selection Committee really messed up the final rankings following Championship Week. At least in my mind they did. The reason I say this is because the committee's decision didn't necessarily focus on how all the teams performed on the field, and the team that got left out was penalized for how the committee thought they were going to play moving forward, and as far as I'm concerned, they had no business doing that. The key driver for all the committee's decisions is money, and that shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. They make their selections based on the matchups they think will generate the most revenue. Now, the committee has often listed the different factors that figure into the final rankings, which eventually determine College Football's national champion. Strength of schedule is one you hear quite a bit, although Georgia would have qualified for the playoff with a ranking of 45 had they beaten Alabama in the SEC championship. So I guess I'd say that the committee is fairly flexible on that metric, going undefeated checks in other box. The committee also made a point of saying that a team that wins their conference championship really puts themselves in a good position to qualify. So it would stand to reason that if a team was an undefeated conference champion, it would be extremely tough to keep them out of the playoff without losing a boatload of credibility. And then, finally, there's that all-important and supremely objective eye test, which is a term so vague that it could mean just about anything, depending on the team in question.
Karl:So, coming out of championship week, you had the following Power Five Conference champions. First there was Washington. They were ranked third going into the Pac-12 championship game against number five ranked Oregon, and they won a very close game, 34-31 to finish the regular season. Undefeated Michigan easily defeated Iowa 26-0 to win the Big 10 title. They finished with a clean slate as well. Next year had Texas beat an 18th ranked Oklahoma State to clinch the Big 12. The Longhorns did lose the game to 12th ranked Oklahoma and their best win was over Alabama in week two, but, as we saw, that was a much different team.
Karl:At the end of the year, the Crimson title overcame a slow start to qualify for the SEC championship and they managed to knock off previously undefeated and number one ranked Georgia. Coach Sabin's team finished 12-1 to make their case for the playoff. Finally, florida State went into the ACC championship without a loss and without their number one quarterback. Their defense dominated a 15th ranked Louisville team that averaged 31 points a game. The Seminoles kept the Cardinals out of the red zone on all but two occasions and even then the result was just a couple of field goals. The final score was 16-6. So, based on these outcomes, I figured Michigan and Washington were deadlocks at number one and number two, since Georgia had lost. That left Alabama ranked eighth going into the SEC championship. Next was Florida State, who was ranked fourth going into theirs, and Texas was right behind them at number five. Now, keep in mind that of these conference champions, only Florida State was undefeated and the Louisville team they beat was ranked higher than Oklahoma State.
Karl:I thought the committee would probably go with Florida State and Texas at numbers three and four, based on the fact that Georgia would likely slide out of the top four, which would move the Seminoles and Longhorns up one spot each. That would tick off a lot of Alabama fans, since the Crimson Tide beat a team in Georgia that had been number one ranked and undefeated. There's also never been a conference champion that was left out of the playoffs. Unfortunately there was no getting around that this year because the remaining three teams all were conference champions. So I figured okay, I can live with Alabama leapfrogging Texas because they beat number one ranked Georgia. So I was pretty amazed when the final rankings came out, with Texas moving to number three and Alabama to number four. That left Florida State the only undefeated team of the three, on the outside looking in.
Karl:But what was even more incredible was hearing what the committee chairman, Boo Corrigan, said to defend the decision. He said that quote Florida State was just not the same team unquote after their quarterback, jordan Travis, suffered a broken leg in the 11th game against North Alabama. So basically he was saying you know we didn't choose FSU because we don't think they're going to be able to compete on account of their number one quarterback being out. We don't care what they did on the field up to this point and I'm sorry, but what a little crap. That was because nine years ago, in 2014, ohio State lost their first and second string quarterback going into the Big Ten championship. They ended up rolling Wisconsin with Cardale Jones under center, who was the number three guy. The committee slotted them at number four. Then the book guys knocked off top ranked Alabama and number two Oregon the win the national title. So there is a precedent here for the committee selecting a team with an injured first string quarterback. That time they did the right thing. Sure, ohio State's top two QBs were out of commission, but the book guys had earned their ticket to the playoff on the strength of how they played all year and, by the way, they did have one loss that season.
Karl:This time, though, the committee totally blew it, and all of Boo Corrigan's hot air about FSU not being the same team without Jordan Travis should not have been a factor. That didn't matter nine years ago, and it shouldn't have mattered two weeks ago. What the committee completely ignored was how good Florida State was overall. They put a monster defense on the field pretty much all season long. It was ranked higher than the Longhorns in both team defense and scoring defense. In fact, the Seminoles were ranked sixth in that metric. Corrigan's statement was a total slap in the face to everyone on the Florida State team. When the team went down, the defense knew they had to step up and they did just that. But the committee basically just gave them the finger by dropping them out of the top four in favor of Texas, even though the Seminoles beat a higher ranked team in their championship game, had a better defense and were ranked higher in scoring offense. The bottom line is teams should not be penalized in their rankings because of an injury until that team shows they couldn't overcome it. The fact is that Corrigan and the committee had no freaking idea how Florida State would have performed in the semifinal game. They should have just let the matter be decided on. Feel like it was in 2014. We'll be back shortly.
Karl:Okay, we are making the final turn and heading down the home stretch, and it is time for our question of the day. Our last one was two episodes ago, when we featured the women's rowing team, and here's a question. The women's rowing team had two varsity eight crews inducted into the Navy Sports Hall of Fame. They were from the 1v8 boats in both 1992 and 1994. How many individual rowers from the program have earned that distinction since 1980? Is it A8, b11, c14, or D18? It looks like the most popular answer was D18. 50% of those who responded chose that one. Next was B11. There were 37% of you who selected it, and then there were 12% that thought C14 was the correct choice. No one picked A, which was A8. It turns out that the right answer was B. There have been 11 individual rowers from the Navy women's team that are in the Hall of Fame. The first to earn that honor was Lori Coffey from the class of 1999, and the most recent one was Darby Nelson from the class of 2016. I'll go ahead and list the other Hall of Famers than the show notes and, by the way, you can bet that Alexandria Valancey- Martinson and Lauren Day will be joining them in the future. Okay, now here's our question from this episode. In 2019, roughly 6% of Division 1 college football rosters were made up of players from the transfer portal. What was that percentage during the 2023 football season? Was it A, 21%, b, 26%, c, 29% or D, 32%? And just so you know, these answers are all rounded up to the nearest whole number, so take some time to think about your response and when you've got one, just go to the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page and make your choice there. I'll have that question up by the end of the day.
Karl:Now let's go ahead and finish up with our last midwatch segment of the fall sports season. We're going to start with Kiefer Black first and, as you may recall, he is a freshman on the water polo team. Black just capped off a pretty amazing year. The Mids made it all the way to the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship game before dropping a very close contest at 15th ranked 40th University. The final score was 12 to 10. But Black was named the rookie of the tournament. He led the team with four goals and for the year he finished with 68 goals and 57 assists and that gave him a total of 125 points overall. That ranks as the third most ever in the history of the program for one season. And remember, black still has three years left to play and somehow I don't think that this is the last championship the Mids will compete for while he's at Annapolis. Next we've got Averi Miller, the senior setter from the volleyball team. Now you all may remember that our last podcast episode was a little special in that we focused solely on the women's triathlon team at the national championships.
Karl:That very same day, which was November 11th, the Mids took on Army in volleyball at the Wesley, a Brown field house with the star on the line, and it was one the Mids really needed because the Black Knights had gotten after a pretty good start in the overall series. Now the match did not start very well. Army took the first two sets by a fairly comfortable margin. The scores were 25-16 and 25-18. So now the team was in a really tough spot. There was absolutely no room for error as the Mids tried to extend the match. And then in the third set they found their rhythm, with Miller setting up her outside hitters Jordan and Jamie Llewellyn. They fought their way back and took the third and fourth sets by identical 25-20 scores. Now, for those of you who may not know, the fifth and deciding set is played to 15 points. So everyone is that much more important. I mean you just can't afford to give a point away.
Karl:Navy got out early, but Army came back to tie the score already 11. The Mids then won three of the next four points to make it 14-12. And by this time the field house was going absolutely berserk. Avery Miller was having her usual solid match she had dealt out 38 assists and come up with 18 digs to lead the team in both of those statistical categories. But remember, at 6-1.
Karl:Miller also poses an offensive threat and at this point in the match she had three kills as well. That gave her 199 for her career. Her 200th was one she'll never forget, taking a back set from freshman Arlie Hansen. Miller approached from the right sideline and unleashed a thunderbolt that tore right through the hands of two Army blockers and hit the floor for match point and the place just exploded. The Mids completed the most unlikely of comebacks, and I say that because the final number showed that Army led in just about every statistic, except for aces. Navy had a 5-3 edge there. So that basically tells you how well the Black Knights played in the first two sets. But as we all know, it's not how you start, it's how you finish, and both Averi Miller and the Navy volleyball team showed that terrific route at West Brown. Just how it's done, and on Veterans Day no less. That's going to do it for this edition of Navy Sports Central.
Karl:Thank you all so much for joining us Now. If you like what you've heard, please be sure to hit that follow button wherever you get your podcast and remember to get the word to all the other Navy fans out there. Once again, I'd like to thank my classmate, doug Conkey, for providing the questions that I used to develop the content for this episode's deep dive segment. And, by the way, you guys can feel free to do that anytime you like. You'll always get a mention on the show, and I think it's a really good way for us to stay connected.
Karl:Our question of the day continues to be a show favorite. You can get in on that by joining the Navy Sports Nation Group Facebook page and giving your answer to this week's question. I will pin it to the top so you don't miss it. And just a quick reminder the views expressed on Navy Sports Central are my own and do not reflect those of the US Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. By the way, the music used in Navy Sports Central comes to you courtesy of Audio Jungle. This is a great site for purchasing the rights to use the music from thousands of artists around the world, and those featured in the podcast will be credited in our show notes. Talk to you soon, everybody. Until next time. This is Karl Darden. Go Navy Beat Army.