Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Navy
Volleyball Set to Host Navy for Star Match, Lehigh in Week Four of League Play
October 08, 2026 | Volleyball
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army West Point volleyball (10-5, 4-2) sees a two-game home stand in week entering week for of Patriot League action, hosting the Navy Midshipmen (6-8, 4-2) and the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks (11-3, 4-2).
Army plays its biggest regular-season game yet on Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. ET. They will take on the Navy Midshipmen, with the match tabbed as the annual Star Match, part of the Star Series presented by USAA.
Over the past two seasons, the Black Knights are 4-0 against the Midshipmen and are 8-4 against Navy since 2021. Overall, Army leads the series over Navy 57-21. Last season, the Black Knights earned a 3-1 win at Navy to claim the Star as well as earn their first league win of the 2025 season.
Twenty-four hours later, the Black Knights will then take on Lehigh on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. ET. It will be the first time the two teams have faced off since the 2025 Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals, where Army earned a 3-0 win inside Gillis Field House en route to their Patriot League Championship run.
For fans who cannot make it to Gillis Field House this weekend, both games will stream live on ESPN+.
ARMY STORYLINES:
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Army finished 1-1 in its third week of Patriot League play, first falling to Bucknell on the road. 1-3. They bounced back the next day, sweeping Lafayette inside Gillis Field House. Kennedy Jones led the hitting efforts, earning 22 kills through the week. Juliette Myrick added 38 assists, 16 kills, 26 digs, 17.5 points and three blocks through the week, earning double-doubles in both matches. Nicole Stroud led the back line with a team-high 32 digs and a perfect 1.000 reception percentage. Breelyn Bender added a team-best seven blocks.
STAR MATCH SHOWDOWN: America's biggest rivalry, Army-Navy, will renew on the volleyball court October 9 at West Point, with the game being tabbed as the annual Star Match, a part of the Star Series presented by USAA. Over the past two seasons, the Black Knights are 4-0 against the Midshipmen and are 8-4 against the Mids since 2021. Overall, Army leads the series over Navy 57-21. Last season, the Black Knights earned a 3-1 win at Navy to claim the Star as well as earn their first league win of the season. Juliette Myrick earned a triple-double, and Michelle Parker tallied 10 kills.
SETTING THE STANDARD: Army holds some of the best numbers in NCAA Division I in several statistical categories. The Black Knights are one of the best serving teams as well as passing teams in the country. The Black Knights are currently 13th in the country in digs per set (16.55) and 35th in the country in aces per set (1.91). The team is also in the top 60 or higher in two other statistical categories, including assists per set (45) and kills per set (51).
DIGGING FOR THE WIN: The Black Knights are one of the top teams in the country in defending their back line. Army currently averages 16.55 digs a set, which sits as the 13th-best mark in NCAA Div. I, above schools including Texas, Penn State, Louisville, Creighton, Pitt, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Nicole Stroud leads the team with 200 digs this season, while three others have over 100 digs: Juliette Myrick (161), Naomi Chinchar (124) and Marlee Lightsey (107). Janie Deapen adds 81 to round out Army's passing core.
JACK OF ALL TRADES: Juliette Myrick continues to serve as the central piece to Army's offense this season. She directs the offense with a team-best 337 assists (6.36 per set) while also adding 18 service aces, the best mark on the team. She is also approaching some major accolades, first reaching 100 career blocks last week. She is 243 assists away from reaching 2,000 career assists, and 75 kills away from reaching 500 career kills. If she reaches the other two marks, she would be the first player in Army history to have 2,000+ assists, 500+ kills and 100+ blocks.
KEEPING UP WITH JONES: Sophomore Kennedy Jones proved to be one of the offensive standouts for the Black Knights through this season. She leads the team with 147 kills (2.83 per set) while posting a .238 hitting percentage, and also adding 26 blocks. Her standout performance this season came against UAlbany, where she tallied 18 kills on a .452 hitting percentage. Jones also contributed five blocks and finished with a career-high 20.5 points. She also had 13 kills on a .600 hitting percentage in Army's win over Liberty. She had 11 kills in each of Army's games last week.
LIGHT 'EM LIGHTSEY: An early frontrunner for Patriot League Rookie of the Year, Marlee Lightsey has been named the Rookie of the Week four times this season. She also tied the Army Volleyball record for most consecutive Rookie of the Week honors at four. She shares the record with Olivia Fairfield, who won the award four consecutive weeks in October 2013, and Abby Casciato, who won it four weeks in a row in 2002. Lightsey now holds the second-longest streak in Patriot League history, with the longest belonging to American's Rebecca Heath, who earned the honor five times in a row in 2008.
HOLDING DOWN THE BACK LINE: Nicole Stroud has served as Army's primary libero this season, setting the tone for Army's defense this season, which sits second in the Patriot League and sits 13th in the country in digs per set (16.55). The junior has 200 digs this season and averages 4.08 per set, numbers good for fifth in the Patriot League. Last week she finished with a team-high 32 digs (4.57 d/s), plus added a perfect 1.000 reception percentage on 26 attempts.
History with Navy
- The Black Knights lead the series, 57-21
- Current Streak: Army, 4 wins
- Last Army win: Nov. 1, 2025, 3-2
- Last Navy win: Nov. 11, 2023, 3-2
History with Lehigh
- The Black Knights lead the series, 51-20
- Current Streak: Army, 1 win
- Last Army win: Nov. 18. 2025, 3-0
- Last Lehigh win: Nov. 7, 2025, 3-0
Follow Along
For complete coverage of Army West Point women's volleyball, follow the Black Knights on X and Instagram at @ArmyWP_VB, online at www.goarmywestpoint.com and turn on notifications for volleyball in the Army Athletics app.
Army West Point Athletic Association, Inc. (AWPAA)
AWPAA is an IRS code 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to execute the United States Military Academy's intercollegiate athletics program. AWPAA is led by a board of directors that provides guidance to the director of athletics, who serves as the primary advisor to the USMA Superintendent and the USMA leadership on all NCAA operations. The AWPAA mission is to recruit, educate, train and inspire leaders of character who are committed to the Army values through an extraordinary Division I athletic experience.
