ASTON, Pa. - Christopher Newport Volleyball dominated Hood College and Neumann University 3-0 and 3-1 respectively in the first day of action from the Knights Invitational hosted by Neumann. CNU moves to 7-6 while Hood drops to 0-13 and Neumann 4-8.
CNU took the first match over Hood 25-14, 25-20, 25-12. CNU went up 8-3 in the first set only to find Hood narrow the score to two, 8-6. Up by three, 12-9, the Captains scored the next five points and go ahead by eight, 17-9, and never led by less than six the rest of the way, closing out the set with five consecutive points with Maddie Carter delivering the final blow off an assist from Hope Webb.
The second proved to have more drama. With the Captains ahead 10-5, the Blazers scored five straight points to knot it at 10-10. CNU would gradually rebuild a sizable lead at 21-13, but the Blazers stormed back to cut it to 23-20, but a Hood attack error led to a Tiaralyn McBride service ace to end the comeback attempt.
After trailing 3-2 to start the third set, the Captains shook off the rust and scored 18 of the next 19 points, highlighted by two nine-point streaks. Hood tallied five of the next six points but the lead was far too great for them to overcome.
Hannah Crawley stuffed the box score with seven kills, four aces, six digs, and one block. Hope Webh handed out 19 assists along with a team0best 12 digs and an ace. Maddie Erb contributed six kills and three blocks. Ashley Burgess and Maddie Carter each tallied five kills along with three combined blocks. Katie Croffod added four kills, four aces, two blocks, and seven digs. Tiaralyn McBride smashed four aces, and Rebecca Fret had three aces and three digs in just one set of action.
While the second match saw the Captains drop a set, the match was controlled by CNU for most of the night with a score of 25-17, 23-25, 25-8, 25-18.
Christopher Newport set the tone from the outset with the first four points of the match. The match remained close on the scoreboard for much of the set, with CNU ahead 18-16, but the Captains reeled off four straight points and seven of the last eight to take a 25-17 victory with Katie Piper contributed two kills and an ace in the run.
The second set proved to be one of runs with each team posting streaks of 3-4 points of more. After facing a 21-18 deficit, Neumann flipped momentum with three consecutive points to tie the set and force a Captains timeout, but the timeout didn't stem the tide as the Knights closed it out with three of the last five markers to take a 25-23 second-set victory.
The Captains came out with a vengeance in the third frame and the Knights were overwhelmed. CNU scored six of the first seven to go up 6-1. With the score at 7-3, the Captains went on a war path, notching six consecutive points and 12 of the following 14. Mackenzie Wright and Sammy Carroll did the bulk of the damage in the run with Carroll tallying three kills, three assists and two aces while Wright added two kills and a block. The Knights scored two straight in hopes of ending the bleeding, but it proved futile as Christopher Newport posted six of the next seven points for the 25-8 win. CNU his .500 for the set while Neumann managed just -.105.
The fourth game looked to be heading down the same road of the third as Neumann trailed 10-4 and 12-6, but they could it to just a two-point deficit on three occasions at 12-10, 13-11, and 15-13. A Katie Crofford kill on the next play sparked a Captains run, and the insertion of Hope Webb proved beneficial as she accounted for two of the next three points via service ace to give CNU breathing room at 19-13. However, no comeback was in the works for Neumann as they only managed five more points the rest of the way with Mackenzie Wright delivering the match-winning kill at 25-18.
Sammy Carroll dished out 47 assists to go with five kills, three aces, and five digs. Mackenzie Wright slammed home 14 kills with a .500 hitting percentage along with two blocks. Katie Crofford tacked on 13 kills, an ace, and eight digs. Katie Piper narrowly missed a double-double with nine kills, 12 digs, and two aces. Abby Oren and Riley Garrison each tallied eight kills. Hope Webb and Rebecca Frey combined for four aces and 14 digs.
Christopher Newport has an early start on Saturday in the Knights Invitational with a 10 am start time vs. Widener then have little break between matches as they face Catholic University of America at noon.
