#14 Volleyball Closes Out Berry National Invitational

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ROME, Ga. - The 14th-ranked Christopher Newport Volleyball team lost 3-0 to Endicott College and 3-1 (26-24, 28-26, 25-22) to #20 Mary Hardin-Baylor (25-19, 25-20, 16-25, 25-18) to wrap up play at the Berry National Invitational. The Captains fall to 2-5 on the year while Endicott improves to 5-1 and Mary Hardin-Baylor to 4-4. Sammy Carroll was named to the All-Tournament team.

The first match proved to be a contest of evenly pitted teams with Endicott needing to notch 26 and 28 points to win. The first set saw several momentum swings with Endicott getting ahead by a few points several times only to see the Captains tie or get within a point or two. Down 19-16, CNU reeled off six of the next seven points to go out in front 22-20, getting kills from Katie Piper, Maddie Carter, and Sammy Carroll along with a Carroll ace and a combo block from Carter and Carroll.

The Gulls called a timeout and secured the next two points to tie it, but consecutive kills from Piper and Katie Crofford put CNU on the doorstep to winning the first set. After a long rally, EC picked up the next point after a CNU spike went out of bounds. That sparked a 4-0 run that saw Colleen McAvoy finish off the set with three consecutive kills for the 26-24 win.

The second set would see neither team lead by more than two points the entirety. Tied at 24-24 following a Crofford kill, a Captains attack error put the Gulls on the precipice of winning the frame at 25-24, but Carroll staved off defeat with a kill to make it 25-25. A Zoey Gifford spike put EC back up by one, but Piper held off defeat with a kill. Unforced errors doomed the Captains from there as a service error put the Gulls ahead by one and CNU followed with a bad set to provide set-point for Endicott, 28-26.

CNU wrestled control of the third set midway thru at 12-8 and built the lead up to 16-11, but the Gulls scored five of the next six to tie it at 17-17. A Riley Garrison kill would eventually put CNU ahead 23-22, but Endicott closed it out from there, earning the next three points to win the match.

Sammy Carroll led the way with 39 assists, 11 digs, four kills, an ace, and an assisted block. Katie Crofford posted 14 kills, six digs, two aces, and an assisted block. Mackenzie Wright contributed 10 kills and three assisted blocks. Katie Pioed added nine kills and three digs. Rebecca Frey recorded a team-high 20 digs.

No marathon sets were required to decide the Mary Hardin-Baylor match as each set was decided by at least five points. CNU led 8-7 in the first set after a Piper ace, but MHB scored the next four and eight of the next ten to go ahead 15-10. CNU trimmed the deficit to as few as three, including 22-19, but two Corinne Novak kills sandwiched around a CNU error finished off the set at 25-19.

MHB took the advantage early in the second set, going up 10-6, but CNU fought back to tie it twice at 14-14 and 15-15. The Crusaders took command from there, scoring six of the next seven to go up 21-16. The Captains got back with three at 19-22 but could not get any closer for the 25-20 loss.

The Captains shook off the 2-0 deficit and rolled from the outset in the third frame. CNU scored the first four points and 10 of the first 11 as Garrison dominated with three kills and two blocks in the run. The set never proved to be competitive as the Crusaders were down by at least six for the remainder while registering only nine kills.

The fourth and deciding set was notched at 9-9, but MHB rattled off the following eight points to go ahead 17-9. While the Captain fought back to get within four, 21-17, the lead proved to be insurmountable and the Crusaders closed out the match with four of the final five points to win the set and match 25-18.

Carroll posted another double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs while tacking on three kills, three aces, and a block. Piper stuffed the box score again with a team-high 14 kills to go with six digs, four blocks, and three aces. Wright contributed seven kills and four blocks. Crofford added nine kills, nine digs, three aces, and a block while Garrison tallied nine kills, three blocks, and five digs. Allie Plumlee totaled 13 digs.

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