Volleyball Travels to St. Mary’s on Wednesday

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport Volleyball will look to wrap up another Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) regular-season crown and the #1 seed in the CAC Tournament when they travel to St. Mary's (Md.) for a 7 p.m. The Captains can also win the league and get the #1 seed with a Mary Washington loss.

Christopher Newport enters the week with a 19-7 overall record and a 7-0 mark in the CAC while the Seahawks are at the bottom of the league standings at 5-18 and 0-7, having won just two sets in league play.

The Captains won the home matchup in three sets by a score of 25-21, 25-12, 25-12 on October 9. CNU hit .369 with 11 aces while holding SMC to .059 with just 16 kills. Katie Crofford led the way with 13 kills while Katie Piper, Megan O'Hara, and Maddie Carter each contributed between 7-8 kills. Sammy Carroll added 35 assists while Rebecca Frey had 10 digs. Ellyse Sutliff had a team-high five kills for SMC while Fatima Bouzid posted 11 assists.

For the year, CNU is hitting .231 to lead the CAC while St. Mary's has a CAC-low .119 mark. The Captains also have a CAC-best 11.81 assists per set compared to 8.89 for last in the league for the Seahawks. The picture is the same in service aces with the Captains pacing the field at 2.84 per set compared to St. Mary's at the bottom with 1.36. It's a narrow advantage for Christopher Newport in digs per set at 13.81 to 13.56. CNU also bests SMC in blocks, 1.82 to 1.60.

Nationally, Christopher Newport ranks 29th in aces per set, 58th in assists per set, 65th in blocks per set, 58th in kills per set, and 33rd in hitting percentage. They additionally place 42nd in total kills, 39th in total assists, 6th in total aces, and 48th in total blocks. St. Mary's highest national ranking is 108th in blocks per set and 133rd in total blocks. They fail to rank inside the top 275 in any other category with opponent hitting percentage being their worst ranking at 402 (.216).

The contract in statistical production is even more pronounced in conference matches. CNU is hitting at a .241 rate while SMC is at .093. In assists, Christopher Newport checks in at 11.87 compared to 7.83 for St. Mary's. CNU is serving up 2.78 aces to 1.17 for SMC. Digs remains a narrow advantage for the Captains at 13.61 to 13.43. And lastly, blocks are in the Captains' favor, 2.28 to 1.87.

Individually in conference play, Piper is the top-ranked player in the matchup in kills, coming in third in the CAC at 3.35 kills per set followed by Croffird in sixth at 2.74. SMC's Sutliff 2.26 kills per set places her eighth while Megan O'Hara and Riley Garrison are in 10th and 11th respectively at 2.24 and 2.13. Kyra Feinaeur rakes in 2.04 kills per set, good for second on the Seahawks roster and 13th in the CAC.

The Captains boast four of the top six student-athletes in the league in hitting percentage in conference matches. O'Hara is second at .303 followed by Garrison in third at .297, good for 83rd in the nation. Mackenzie Wright and Crofford fall into the fifth and sixth spots at .279 and .278. Feinaeur and Erin Krauss are the only two Seahawks players in the top 20 in hitting percentage, killing at a clip of .205 and .200.

Sammy Carroll is the top-ranked assister in CAC competition at 10.52 assists per set, more than one assist better than the second-place competitor. She also ranks 39th in Division III in assists per set and 25th in total assists. Fatima Bouzid and Katie Agate rank sixth and seventh at 5.60 and 4.12.

Half of the top ten servers, in terms of aces, in the league reside in Newport News. Frey's team-leading 0.68 aces per set in conference play ranks second while her 45 total assists rank 88th nationally. Kayleigh Reagan-Smith is fifth with 0.50 while Tiaralyn McBride and Piper are tied for sixth with 0.48. Carroll rounds out the top ten at 0.39. Nicole Kreutzinger leads the Seahawks in service aces with 0.30 per set, placing her 17th in the CAC.

Emily Benedict of SMC and Frey are fifth and sixth in digs, picking up 3.82 and 3.43 per set respectively against league foes. Crofford falls just outside the top ten at 11th with 2.74 while Bouzid of St. Mary's is 12th at 2.67.

Wright is second in the CAC in blocks per set in conference matches at 1.35 after blocking a CAC-season high 10 vs. Mary Washington on Saturday. Garrison checks in at ninth with 0.78 and O'Hara 11th at 0.71. Krauss paces the Seahawks with 0.91 blocks per set, good for eighth. Nancy Slaughter is 18th (0.57) and Feinaeur 19th (0.48)

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