SALISBURY, Md. -- Picking up an indisputably dominant win on the road, the Christopher Newport volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 win against Salisbury University on Wednesday night. The Captains (16-6) have won four in a row and posted one of the finest road records in program history with an 8-2 mark as the visiting team in regular season action.
This year's senior class has logged a 32-8 overall record while playing as the true visitor in their four year tenure for an overall winning percentage of 80 percent. Additionally, the Captains have added five more wins this year on a neutral court, combining for a 13-4 record away from home.
In Wednesday night's tilt against the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference rivals, the Captains hit for the highest percentage, .333, in the last seven matches, and the sixth-best single match performance of the year. The CNU defense also held Salisbury to the team's third-lowest hitting percentage of the season for the Sea Gulls with a .135 showing.
Rookie
Jasmine Williams highlighted the evening's effort with a match-high 12 kills on 18 swings with just three errors for a .500 attack percentage.
Simara Alexander added nine kills and a career-high five aces.
CNU outdueled Salisbury in the first set for a 25-23 win and then pulled away for a 25-20, 25-13 finish to close out the match. With the loss, Salisbury falls to 14-6 on the year.
The Sea Gulls took a 4-1 lead in the first but Alexander's first of five aces headlined five of the next six points fro the Captains to take a 6-5 lead. The home team countered again, pulling ahead by a couple, 12-10, on a CNU error. Once again, Christopher Newport had the answer with a 4-0 burst to re-take the lead.
Avery Hanly logged a kill and Alexander paired up with
Alli Pratt for a block in the mini-run.
Salisbury pivoted to pull ahead once again, 21-18, and again, 23-20, but the CNU resilience shone through to carry the set. Facing a three-point deficit late in the set, a timeout reset the Captains and the senior leader, Alexander, finished off the comeback bid from the service line.
Fielding Croft set up Williams for a bullet to pull back within one and Alexander delivered a wobbling dart that split a pair of Sea Gulls to even the score at 23-all. A solo rejection by Pratt gave the Captains set point and an error ended it in favor of the Captains.
The home team shook off the come-from-behind momentum and battled back against the Captains through the first half of the second set. Salisbury led by three again, 12-9, when CNU staged another back-breaking blow with a 8-2 run to flip the scoreboard in favor of the Captains, 17-14. Alexander had a kill followed by a pair of solo blocks from
Avery Hanly and Williams. Another error was followed by Alexanders third ace, setting a new career high while setting herself to shatter the personal best in the third set.
Now in command, the Captains held off Salisbury for the remainder of the second set and never allowed the home team to close within two points. CNU got back-to-back kills by Williams to set up set point and won it on a Salisbury error, 25-20.
While the first two sets featured competitive back-and-forth, the Captains cruised to an 13-point lead in the third set to deliver the knockout blow. CNU jumped out to a 10-3 advantage and then built the lead to 20-7 before Salisbury started to chip away but it was all too late. The go-to player was Williams again, with four kills in the final set including two late to put the Captains in position to clinch. Carle Coghill and Williams paired up for a combo block to create match point and
Maddie Hanes was back to close out the match from the line. After Salisbury returned, it was sophomore
Lauren Hobbs finding Alexander for her ninth kill of the night and the winning point.
In the middle of the floor, the Captains got 15 assists from Croft and 14 by Hobbs.
Samantha Dorn led all CNU players with seven digs while
Ana Smithson tacked on six.
Christopher Newport will now head home for the remainder of the regular season starting with a tri-match at the Freeman Center this Saturday, October 24. CNU will welcome Johnson & Wales (N.C.) for an 11:00 a.m. match before taking on Randolph College at 3:00 p.m.
