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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Christopher Newport University's volleyball season came to an end Saturday with a 3-1 loss (25-23, 25-15, 14-25, 25-15) to 16th-ranked Berry College in the third round of the NCAA tournament in Virginia Beach.
 
The Captains (26-8) made the NCAA tournament for the 18^th consecutive year and advanced to the third round for the third time in four seasons. But they were unable overcome a Vikings team coached by former CNU middle blocker Caitlyn Moriarity '11 (then Jansen).
 
"Berry was unbelievable," Captains coach Lindsay Birch said. "Frustrating because they were so good and played so well and so clean. It was a physical challenge but it was a big mental challenge for us to have to deal with our struggle and their success and try to flip the script.
 
"In the third set, we certainly did that. We caught fire and we weren't quite able to sustain it. But we played very, very hard throughout the entire match."
 
In her final match, senior middle blocker Alyssa Dozier had 18 kills with a .545 hitting percentage and four blocks. She finished her career fourth on the program's all-time list in kills (1,368) and attack percentage (.324) and first in solo blocks in the rally scoring era (167) and total blocks (490).

Dozier became the first CNU player to ever hit over .500 with at least ten kills in back-to-back NCAA Tournament matches. In fact, she is the first to ever accomplish the feat twice at all, let alone back-to-back and, impressively, she did it against two teams ranked in the AVCA top 25 in No. 8 Juniata on Friday and No. 16 Berry on Saturday. She set a new program record for hitting percentage in a postseason tournament with a .477 clip over three matches this weekend -- the previous mark was .429, by Jansen in 2010. 
 
Freshman Emmy Carpenedo had 14 kills (.257) and three assists. Simara Alexander had nine and Samantha Dorn six.
 
Fielding Croft finished with 43 assists, ending her freshman season with 1,076. 
 
In addition to Dozier, it was the final match for seniors Megan James and Maddi Morrison.
 
"These three set an awesome example," Birch said. "Really proud. You know the old saying: Culture doesn't graduate. It will continue to get better because of the contributions the three of them made over their four years.
 
"They made an impact on people, not just on us winning and losing games. They impacted their teammates and made them understand how special it is to be a part of the program and how special it is to play this sport at a high level. Their legacy is one that will carry over for a long time."