DANVILLE, Va. -- Senior libero Brooke Moore joined an exclusive club with her 1,000th career dig, while Rachel Conway and Briana Sutton helped pace a potent offensive attack as the ninth-ranked Christopher Newport volleyball team toppled former USA South foe Averett, 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 28-26) on Friday evening at the Grant Center.

During the contest, Moore pocketed a match-high 14 digs to anchor the back row defense. With that performance, she became just the 11th player in program history to reach the 1,000-dig plateau and the first to do so since current assistant coach Cory Harris accomplished the feat in 2012. Moore now has 1,006 digs in her career.

While Moore was making history on the defensive end, Conway and Sutton were leading the offense against Averett. Conway was tremendous against the Cougars as she dished out 44 assists, marking the most by a Captain in a three-set match since 2010. Sutton also made her presence felt as the sophomore standout pummeled the opposition with 17 kills on just 24 swings. Eliza Fisher uncorked 10 kills and hit .438 as well. The freshman southpaw also chipped in with a pair of aces and two blocks.

With the victory, Christopher Newport improves to 16-1 on the season. The setback drops the Cougars to 8-8.

Early in the first set, the old conference rivals looked evenly-matched as CNU and Averett traded shots. Fisher landed a flurry of blows at the outset, including two kills, to knot the frame at three. Later, Sutton stepped up and broke the deadlock with an impressive run. The second-year star roped six kills, including three during a four-rally stretch. Rock also kept the Cougars off-balance with a pair of blocks, while Moore slung an ace on the way to a 19-16 lead.

Following an Averett timeout, the hosts were able to whittle their deficit back down to one, but Fisher and Maddie McCann never let the Cougars get any closer. Fisher smoked an ace and kill, while McCann hammered home a pair of darts after capitalizing on two assists by Conway to cap off the first, 25-21.

After posting a victory in the opening set, the Captains simply followed the same script in the second. Fisher got things rolling again with another ace and kill before Sutton unloaded a lethal barrage. She strung together four kills during the early part of the frame, while Abby McIntyre contributed an ace to give the visitors a 12-8 edge heading into an AU timeout.

Following the stoppage, the Cougars stole the next four points and knotted the score at 12 before Christopher Newport responded. Blasting the opposition with an assortment of attacks, five different Captains got in on the action as Fisher, Conway, McCann, Sutton, and Hannah Miller all smacked kills on the way to a 21-17 lead. From there, the defense took over as Rock teamed up with Fisher and McCann on a pair of blocks to close out the second, 25-19.

With a two-set lead, CNU jumped all over Averett in the beginning of the third stanza. Miller led the charge with five quick kills before McIntyre and Moore each uncorked aces to grab a 17-11 advantage. Unfortunately, things began to go awry after that point. AU orchestrated a six-point run to even the score at 17. Although Sutton responded with a pair of kills, including one aided by an acrobatic dig by Moore, Christopher Newport eventually found itself staring at a 23-21 deficit.

Needing a late rally, Conway took care of it herself with back-to-back kills to knot the score at 23. Later, after the visitors showed tremendous heart and hustle to stave off three set-points, CNU put the game away. McIntyre kept the Cougars off-balance with a pair of well-placed serves, while McCann dropped in one final kill to help seal the set, 28-26.

McCann finished the contest with eight kills, while Miller had nine for the Captains. In addition to Moore's historic efforts on the back row, Rock paced the defense with four blocks. McIntyre also had four digs and punched a pair of aces to help lift CNU to the victory.

Christopher Newport will be back in action on Tuesday when the squad opens up Capital Athletic Conference action at Salisbury. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.

---CNU---