Volleyball Heads to Washington D.C. for Worthington Classic

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport Volleyball will seek to extend their to streak in the nation's capital as will play four matches in the Worthington Classic, hosted by Gallaudet University.

The weekend's slate starts at 2 p.m. with the team's Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) opener with York College (Pa.) followed by a 6 p.m. tilt with Bethany College. On Saturday, the Captains have a rematch with Catholic University at 10 a.m. and will face a to be determined opponent at 2 p.m. Live coverage will include video for all four matches and live stats for all but the 2 p.m. match on Saturday. Links to coverage can be found here.

While the Captains started out the year 2-5, the extremely challenging schedule has provided dividends of late as CNU has reeled off six straight wins, with five being three-match sweeps, and are winners of seven of their last eight contests. Most recently, Christopher Newport won the Knights Invitational this past weekend, defeating Hood College, Neumann University, Widener University, and Catholic University. Neumann was the only opponent that managed to take a set from the Captains.

In the six-match winning streak, the Captains are hitting .328 as a team, including a season-best .359 vs. Catholic. In the previous nine matches, the Captains only eclipsed the .300 mark once - a 3-0 win vs. Cabrini. They have done an impressive job limiting attacking errors, having 14 or fewer in all six matches, a mark they only reached once in the first nine contests.

The Captains were spearheaded last week by reigning CAC Player of the Week in Sammy Carroll and Riley Garrison.

Carroll was named MVP of the Knights Invitational and the freshman has been a revelation at the setter position. In five matches and 14 sets played last week, Carroll tallied 10.93 assists per set, including a career-high 47 vs. Neumann and a career-best 13.33 per set vs. Catholic. For the year, she is posting CAC-best 8.94 assists per set to go with 26 kills, 22 aces, 101 digs, and 12 blocks.

Garrison joined Carroll on the All-Tournament team, posting 10 total blocks in 13 sets while adding on 36 kills and hitting .516 for the week. Garrison is recording 2.57 kills per set on a .373 hitting percentage, good for the team lead and second in the CAC. Additionally, she boasts a team-high 38 blocks, ranking fourth in the Capital with 0.81 per set.

One of the Captain seniors reached a prestigious career milestone last week as Katie Piper recorded her 1,000th career kill, becoming the 11th player in CNU volleyball history to join the club. She has been a vital asset to the Captains both offensively and defensively this year with 2.65 kills per set, 20 aces, a team second-best 134 digs, and 12 blocks.

The Captains are receiving valuable contributions from numerous student-athletes. Katie Crofford is second on the squad in kills at 2.58 and leads the CAC in service aces per set at 0.63. Additionally, she has 114 digs and 16 blocks. Abby Oren and Mackenzie Wright are contributing 1.84 and 1.81 kills per set respectively with Wright hitting at a .288 clip. Wright additionally ranks second on the team in blocks at 35 while Oren is third with 25. Rebecca Frey paces all Captains in digs at 3.34 from the libero position and she is second in aces with 23. Hope Webb is third in aces per set with 0.45, 17 overall.

York comes into this weekend's tournament with an 8-8 overall record, but they have won four of their last five matches. The Captains and Spartans have just one common opponent thus far as neither has entered conference play yet. York fell to Catholic 3-0 (26-24, 25-23, 25-20) on September 14 while CNU defeated Catholic 3-0 (29-27, 25-15, 25-21) last Saturday.

Offensively, Hannah Siaurusaitis and Madyson Whitcomb lead the way with 2.14 and 2.05 kills per set. Additionally, Whitcomb is hitting a CAC-best .378. Abby Diehl and Gabby Emeigh split duties at setter with Diehl averaging 4.88 assists per set to 3.98 for Emeigh. Lydia Stump paces the squad on services with 34 aces while Ameigh checks in with 25 and Diehl 22. Emiegh and Stump ranked second and third in the CAC in aces per set at 0.60 and 0.59. Emily Pupo has the reigns at libero, recording 4.24 digs per set, good for fourth in the league. Whitcomb and Sydney Wilber are statistically two of the top five blockers in the CAC with Whitcomb at 0.91 blocks per set, good for third, and Wilber fifth at 0.80.

Bethany is 6-7 in 2019 with a 3-1 record in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. They are winners of two straight, both 3-0 triumphs over Chatham and Washington & Jefferson.

Katie Sparks is posting 3.42 kills per set while Jess More checks in at 2.42. Jenna Scott is handing out 9.21 assists per set to go with 14 aces. Madelaine Blanco tops the team with 18 aces while Sparks and Alaina Torres allow closely behind with 17 apiece. Blanco also is the team's libero with 3.65 digs per set. Torres and Sparks rank second and third in digs at 2.94 and 2.71. Sidney Snyder's 30 blocks (0.71) are double that of the second-place person, Jenna Scott with 15.

Catholic, members of the Landmark Conference, are 10-6 this season and went 1-2 in last week's Knights Invitational, defeating Widener 3-0 while falling to Messiah 3-2 and CNU 3-0. They defeated Shenandoah on Wednesday 3-0. They started September with a seven-match winning streak before losing to Mary Washington then dropping the two matches last weekend.

Josephine Morrill tops the team with 3.71 kills followed by Patricia Martinez at 3.16 and Isabelle Cooper at 2.16 on a .267 hitting percentage. Maria Gonzalez boasts 9.03 assists per set. Caroline Kelly records 4.50 digs per set followed by Morrill (2.88) and Gonzalez (2.78). Cooper has registered 35 blocks and Joya Libbus 25.

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