NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport volleyball team rolled to a pair of quick 3-0 victories at the Freeman Center on Saturday starting with the first ever victory against Johnson & Wales Charlotte (7-16) before capturing a win over Randolph College (13-12). Junior
Lanie Goff recorded 31 digs in the two matches while adding a season-high eight assists against the WildCats in match number two on the day.
With the pair, the Captains improved to 18-6 overall while posting six straight victories. CNU first dropped the JWU Charlotte Wildcats by a final score of 25-10, 25-20, 25-10 before adding a victory against the Randolph WildCats in a 25-16, 25-21, 25-12 final.
In the morning's first match, Goff had 15 digs to lead the defense while
Fielding Croft logged 22 assists on 42 kills for the Captains. The 42 terminations were spread fairly evenly with
Emmy Carpenedo leading the squad with nine total kills.
Jasmine Williams added eight and
Alli Pratt had seven in the early Saturday win.
The first set was all CNU from the start as the home team raced out to an 8-1 win with seniors
Samantha Dorn and
Simara Alexander leading the way on the service line. Both recorded an ace in the early run while fellow senior
Alli Pratt blistered three kill in four points with a dominant roll. JWU Charlotte trailed 16-8 when the Captains finished out the first set on a 9-2 burst for a 25-10 win.
The second set was much more contentious with the Wildcats holding close throughout the set before CNU finally closed out the win on a 6-2 win to turn a two-point lead into a five-point victory, 25-20.
Carley Coghill ripped off back-to-back kills before a pair of aces by Carpenedo created set point. It was back to Coghill for the winner as the Captains took a 2-0 lead.
The first match concluded with another dominant performance as the Captains led wire-to-wire. With the score at 13-9, the Captains put together one of the most impressive runs of the season with 10 straight points and a match-clinching 12-1 run to win, 25-10.
With one win already under their belts, the Captains registered another well-balanced performance in the afternoon affair.
Simara Alexander and
Avery Hanly led the way with 10 kills apiece and were followed closely by
Carley Coghill with eight.
Fielding Croft had 20 assists and
Lauren Hobbs added 14; Goff closed out the second match with 16 digs.
Randolph eliminated an early lead for CNU to make it seven-all before Christopher Newport took control. A 6-2 run would build to 12-5 as CNU opened up a seven-point lead, 19-12. The lead continued to grow as the home team finished out a 25-16 victory. Like the first match of the day, the second set provided the Captains a bigger challenge as the WildCats led, 11-9, after the opening stages of the set. Hanly blistered three straight kills to put the Captains back ahead, but Randolph knotted the set at 13-all moments later.
CNU scored four of the next five and held off a valiant attempt by Randolph in the rest of the set. Despite the WildCats closing to two points, 21-19, CNU got kills by Coghill, Croft, Pratt, and Hanly to finish off a 25-21 set victory.
Winning six straight points to start the third, the Captains put the rest of the match in the rear-view mirror. CNU added another 6-0 run in the middle of the set to take a 16-5 advantage and then rolled to a 25-12 win.
Christopher Newport will return to action on Wednesday evening when the Captains welcome Mary Washington to the Freeman Center for a 6:00 p.m. matchup.
