WINCHESTER, Va. -- Recording a career-high 15 digs against Shenandoah University on Friday night, sophomore
Fielding Croft paired that effort with a team-high 22 assists for her first double-double of the season as the CNU volleyball team captured a 3-1 win on the road. The Captains improved to 14-6 overall while the Hornets fell to 10-8 on the season.
Croft picked up her fifth career double-double in the win and helped facilitate an offense that hit .250 against Shenandoah in the match. She was one of three Captains with double figure dig performances including 11 by
Avery Hanly and 10 by
Maddie Hanes.
Lauren Hobbs also reached double figures in assists with 19 for CNU as the two paired for 41 of the 53 total helpers in the match.
At the net it was senior
Simara Alexander with the heavy-hitting performance as the veteran notched a 14 kills to finish just one shy of her season high. She hit .393 and added seven blocks in the match for CNU. Fellow senior
Alli Pratt also recorded 10 kills and 4 blocks for CNU up front.
Carley Coghill, with eight,
Jasmine Williams, with six, and
Samantha Dorn, with five, rounded out the top five attacking performances on the night.
CNU dropped the first set to the Hornets but rallied to win the next three in a battle that finished with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-23 final score.
In the first set, the Captains were clawing from behind the length of the period and never trailed by more than six points when it was 16-10. CNU got a kill by Alexander and three consecutive attack errors to pull back within two and kept the match within three points for the remainder of the set. It was the home team that used a late push to capture the first set, though, as Shenandoah closed out a 25-23 win.
CNU opened up a big lead in the second and looked poised to pull away but Shenandoah showed some resilience when faced with a 15-6 Captains' lead. CNU got service aces from
Lauren Hobbs and
Maddie Hanes while Alexander had three kills, Williams had a pair, and Coghill added one in the early surge. After Shenandoah chipped away the lead and drew even at 21-all, the Captains scored four of the last five points to close out a 25-22 win. A pivotal timeout shifted the comeback bid in favor of CNU with a pair of errors followed by an
Alli Pratt kill and a
Fielding Croft ace.
The Captains took a 2-1 lead with a dominant third set that followed a similar script as the second, void of the Shenandoah comeback. Christopher Newport opened up a 19-8 lead and then quickly denied a Shenandoah mini-run by wrapping up a 25-15 win.
In the clinching set neither team led by more than three points the entire way. After the Hornets took a 10-8 advantage, the Captains got a quick hitter from Coghill and two more errors to knot the match up at 11. Pratt rose up over a block attempt for a kill and
Elena Gonzales notched a key ace as CNU opened up a 13-11 advantage. After one rally fell to the Hornets, CNU scored twice more to take a 15-12 lead on kills by Alexander and Hanly.
Back and forth the fourth set went the rest of the way with CNU never relinquishing the lead after it was knotted at 17-all. The Captains finished out the match, 25-23, with
Alli Pratt firing home a winner on a feed from
Maddie Hanes.
CNU will return to action on Saturday at Washington and Lee with a match set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
