Program carries legacy forward
No. 23 Michigan in field at Kristen Dickmann Invitational
In late June 2007, Kristen Dickmann arrived at the Naval Academy to start plebe summer. The native of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, quickly made friends and warmed people’s hearts with her infectious smile, joyful love for her sport, and desire to become a Naval pilot.
A member of the Navy volleyball team, Dickmann played as a plebe and youngster in 2007 and 2008. Sadly, her stay at the academy was a short one as she unexpectedly died in Bancroft Hall in spring 2008, three weeks after her 19th birthday.
This Friday and Saturday will mark a decade since Navy volleyball began hosting an annual tournament established in Dickmann’s memory.
Navy will welcome 23rd-ranked Michigan (2-0) of the Big Ten Conference and undefeated West Virginia (4-0) to Wesley Brown Fieldhouse for the 10th annual Kristen Dickmann Invitational to be played in the Wesley A. Brown Field House.
“Though she was here long before me, her legacy lives on in our program,” Navy volleyball co-captain Taylor Gray said. “Each year we visit her grave. Her legacy is how much joy she had in playing volleyball and how much she loved academy life.
“I’m glad we have the tournament at the beginning of the year because it allows us to play against some of the better teams and also to show the joy we have in playing,” Gray added.
Navy (3-1) is slated to meet both Michigan and West Virginia, whose players and coaches will get an opportunity to tour the academy grounds and facilities.
“It allows us to bring in different schools each year to give them a look at what academy life is like,” fourth-year Navy head coach Paco Labrador said.
Labrador, who enjoyed tremendous success during a 15-year tenure as head coach at Division III Wittenberg, came into this season with a career winning percentage of .854. The Arizona native and Hiram College graduate earned his 500th career win when Navy opened the season by beating Binghamton.
“I think when you get some of these milestones, you remember where you were, who you were playing and what team you were able to share the milestone with,” said Labrador, whose overall career record is 502-93.
“I am glad to be able to share this milestone with this team. When I earned my 400th win, two of the assistants I have now were on the team. Because of the nature of this team, it’s more special with this particular team,” Labrador added.
Michigan and West Virginia will kick off the tournament with a match on Friday at noon. Navy will meet Michigan Friday night (7 p.m.) then face West Virginia on Saturday night (7:30 p.m.).
Navy opened the 2021 season by posting a three-set victory over Binghamton (25-17, 25-14, 25-14), a four-set defeat of Cleveland State (25-15, 21-25, 25-14, 25-16) and a threeset win against Morgan State (25-11, 25-20, 25-21) on Saturday. The lone loss so far came last Sunday at the hands of Towson in five sets (25-20, 18-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-6).
Four different Mids have totaled at least 10 kills in a match, with senior Avery Stowell and sophomore Jamie Llewellyn each doing it twice. Sophomore setter Averi Miller and junior Celie Feighery have combined to dish out an average of 8.40 assists per set.
Stowell has pounded down a team-high
40 kills, while Jamie Llewellyn has 37. Defensively, senior libero Kimberly Lynch has amassed 35 digs, while senior outside hitter Cami Herman has totaled 26. Sophomore middle blocker Maggie Bodman leads Navy with 13 blocks.
“We have a core group of five seniors who have been in the program all four years that our coaching staff has been here and who are experienced in understanding what we’re trying to do and who support the coaches,” Labrador said.
In co-captains Gray and Herman, Navy has two players who made the team as walkons and advanced to leadership roles.
“Taylor plays a lot of different positions for us. She is the epitome of a utility player. She has played hitter, serving specialist, defensive specialist and setter,” Labrador said. “Somebody like her is important to us because as the match unfolds, what I need might change depending on what the other team does. Wherever and whenever I need her, she is ready to go.”
Labrador refers to Stowell as the team’s “go to” player and its “most complete” player.
“She is very talented and does everything well,” he said. “She is our most experienced returning player we have.”
Past Kristen Dickmann Invitational champions are Maryland-Eastern Shore (2010), Nebraska-Omaha (2012), North Carolina-Wilmington (2013), Southern Utah (2014), Texas Tech (2015), Delaware (2016), Navy (2017) and Alabama (2018).
No champion was determined for the 2011 tournament due to Hurricane Irene forcing a format change. There was no tournament in 2019 due to scheduling conflicts and 2020 because of COVID.