SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- After not trailing at any point of the first two sets, CNU had to work a bit harder in the third. But after staving off four set points, the No. 2 Captains defeated No. 3 UC Santa Cruz 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 30-28) in the Coast-To-Coast volleyball semifinals Friday in Santa Cruz, Calif.

With its 17^th win in its last 19 matches, CNU (23-7) advanced to Saturday's 6 p.m. championship game against No. 1 Salisbury. The Captains and Sea Gulls split a pair of matches in the regular season with both winning away from home. Salisbury advanced to the conference title match with a 3-0 win over Mary Washington, who had earned a 3-2 win over Regent in the first match of the day. 

The day after being named Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, CNU's Alyssa Dozier had 13 attacks with a season-best .611 hitting percentage and three total blocks. Simara Alexander had 10 kills (.750) and two solo blocks.

Fielding Croft, the C2C Rookie of the Year, had 33 assists (11 per set) along with two aces and five digs.

In the opening set, the Captains raced out to an 11-1 lead. UC Santa Cruz never got the deficit below nine, and Emmy Carpenedo sealed it with an unassisted kill.

The second set began with back-to-back aces by Carpenedo, but the Banana Slugs fought back. CNU led 11-8 before going on a 3-0 run for a bigger cushion. Alexander's unassisted kill gave the Captains their clinching 25^th point.

In the third, Santa Cruz took its first lead of the day at 5-4. The Banana Slugs had four chances to send it to a fourth set, but each time the Captains responded. UC Santa Cruz led 28-27, but CNU answered with three consecutive points. The Captains sealed the win with a kill by Carpenedo.
 
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for the championship match at 6:00 p.m. ET. Links to both can be found on the volleyball schedule at CNUsports.com.