Volleyball Travels to Mary Washington in CAC Showdown

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Christopher Newport Volleyball team heads to Fredericksburg, Va. on Saturday to battle Mary Washington in a battle of Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) heavyweights at 2 p.m.

The squads have faced-off against one another in the last three CAC championship matches, and a win would give the Captains at minimum a two-game advantage in the standings on every team in the conference. It would also give CNU with the tiebreaker over Mary Washington, essentially also giving the Captain a three-game lead over second-place Mary Washington with only three matches remaining.

Christopher Newport enters the weekend with an 18-7 overall record with a 6-0 mark in conference play while the Eagles check in at 11-11, 5-1. CNU has dropped just one set in 19 against league foes while Mary Washington has lost five in 20. The Captains have won 15 of their last 16 matches while UMW is 6-4 in their last 10.

CNU won the first matchup in Newport News on October 5 by a resounding score of 25-17, 25-22, 25-15. Katie Piper led the way with 17 kills while Sammy Carroll contributed 38 assists and nine digs. Katie Crofford and Riley Garrison combined for 16 kills and three blocks while Mackenzie Wright and Kegan O'Hara combined for 11 kills and six blocks. CNU hit for a season-high percentage of .418. Savannah Powers led the Eagles with 11 kills and three solo blocks, Lexie Hendricks contributed six blocks, Kendal Hall had 14 digs, and Wren Berry tallied 27 assists.

In conference-only matches, CNU leads with 13.26 kills per set while Mary Washington checks in third at 11.45.

The matchup will feature five of the top 10 of the conference-only kills per set leaders in CNU's Piper and Crofford and UMW's Powers and Peyton Dunow. Powers tops the league leaderboard at 3.60, with Piper third at 3.32, Dunow sixth at 2.85, Crofford seventh at 2.68, Riley Garrison eighth at 2.53. Additionally, Megan O'Hara comes in 11th at 2.14.

Efficient attacking is the name of the game for these two teams as they outpace the rest of the league significantly at .248 for CNU and UMW at .244. York is third at .145. Eight of the top-ten leaders in CAC-only hitting percentage are either a Captain or an Eagle:

1st, Riley Garrison, CNU, .383
3rd, Krista Rodgers, UMW, .323
4th, Megan O'Hara, CNU, .322
5th, Katie Crofford, CNU, .306
6th, Savannah Powers, UMW, .283
7th, Peyton Dunow, UMW, .280
t-10th, Olivia Casey, UMW, .250 - but has only played in five sets
t-10th, Lexie Hendricks, UMW, .250

The Captains top the league in assists in conference matches at 12.21 while Mary Washington is narrowly second at 10.90, just outpacing Salisbury's 10.76. Sammy Carroll and UMW's Wren Berry will battle it out in a matchup of the two leading setters in the league. Carroll is dishing out 10.89 assists per set against league foes while Berry checks in at 9.45. No one else in the conference is averaging more than 7.71 per set.

CNU dominates the CAC leaderboard in service aces as a team and individually with 2.95 per set while Mary Washington is just fourth at 1.60. CNU has five of the top 12 individuals while Mary Washington boasts just one in the top ten and three in the top 20. Rebecca Frey for CNU tops the league at 0.67 per set. Tiaralyn McBride comes in third (0.58), UMW's Hall fifth (0.55), Piper seventh (0.53), Kaylie Reagan-Smith eighth (0.50), and Carroll 12th (0.37).

The Eagles are third in the conference in digs with 16.40 per set in-conference while Christopher Newport ranks fifth at 13.74 thanks to their dominance of the league thus far. UMW's Hall finds herself second in the CAC in digs in conference matches at 5.50 per set while Denow and Powers are the only other Eagles in the top 20 at 2.15 and 2.10. Frey paces the Captains at 3.89 for sixth followed by Crofford 11th at 2.68 and Piper 14th at 2.53.

Mary Washington has established itself as the top blocking team in the conference with three of the top four in the stat leaders to rank first in the league at 2.40 blocks per set. Hendricks is running away with the blocking title at 1.55 blocks per set in-conference while Aidan Finegan is tied for second at 1.18. Powers check is fourth at 1.10, and Rodgers places 16th at 0.60. Mackenzie Wright leads CNU, coming in at sixth with 1.00 followed by Riley Garrison 11th at 0.74 and O'Hara 15th at 0.65 as the Captains are third with 2.03 per set.

Lastly, Christopher Newport is running away with the league crown in points per set at 18.2 while Mary Washington is second at 15.4 in conference-only matches. However, Powers is the league leader at 4.6 points per set while CNU's Piper is second at 4.1. Dunow is fifth at 3.5 followed by two Captains in Crofford (3.2) and Garrison (2.9) for sixth and seventh. O'Hara and Wright come in at 12th (2.5) and 14th (2.3) respectively while Hendricks (16th, 2.2) and Tenley Hares (18th, 2.2) round out the UMW top-20 contingent.

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