NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A mighty effort on the home court fell just short as the Christopher Newport volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference foe Mary Washington (10-9). The Captains had a six-match winning streak come to an end with a final score of 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22.
Giving the home fans a thrilling match, the Captains stormed back from big deficits throughout the night including erasing a pair of seven-point comebacks in the first two sets. The Captains got a double-double from sophomore setter
Lauren Hobbs with 18 assists and 11 digs to lead the way for Christopher Newport in the loss.
On the attacking side of the net, senior
Alli Pratt and rookie
Jasmine Williams each ripped off 11 kills to lead the way for CNU. Sophomore
Fielding Croft had 20 assists and
Lanie Goff, the reigning C2C Defensive Player of the Week, led the Captains with 16 digs.
The stage was set in the opening set when Mary Washington raced out to an 8-1 lead and forced the Captains to play from behind early. After trading points to make it 9-2, the Captains began to mount their first massive comeback of the night. Williams drilled a pair of kills and
Samantha Dorn went back-to-back before
Carley Coghill trimmed the lead to four with a kill of her own. The Eagles responded with three of the next four to make it 15-9, but CNU caught fire again and finally erased the big deficit when they knotted the score up at 17-all. Williams again had two kills in the burst, including the set-tying point with a big blow at the net on an over pass by the Eagles.
Unfortunately for the Captains, Christopher Newport surrendered six of the next seven points as the Eagles rallied to take a 23-18 advantage. Another valiant attempt was mounted with Dorn having her number called twice, but ultimately Mary Washington finished off the first set, 25-20.
The big comeback proved to be fuel for the second set as the Captains once again fell behind by a big number as Mary Washington built a nine-point advantage, 16-7. Coming out of a timeout, CNU got an attack error to get the ball back on their own service line where sophomore
Emmy Carpenedo put together a dominant run. Carpenedo blistered three aces in four points as the Captains closed the lead to four, 16-12. The teams traded points as Mary Washington climbed to a 22-17 advantage, but the home team would not be denied.
Samantha Dorn went to the line and the Captains went to work.
CNU captured seven straight points to force set point and finished off the second set with a kill by
Fielding Croft, 25-23. Dorn was at the line for six straight points and the Captains dominated with kills by Pratt and
Simara Alexander along with an ace by the senior server.
With the match evened at one set apiece, the third set played out much more differently with neither team leading by more than two points throughout the entire set. The back-and-forth battle saw the Eagles lead early, 10-8, and the Captains rebound to open up a 17-15 advantage. Teetering back in front, the Eagles pulled ahead, 21-19, but once again a well-timed timeout sparked the CNU squad to another rally. Pratt and Williams had kils and a Mary Washington error knotted the third set up at 23-all. The Eagles finished off the set, however, winning the next two rallies to take a 2-1 lead.
While the script had been written in the first two sets, the fourth followed a similar path with Mary Washington opening up a big lead, 23-14, and threatened to close out the match with a run away win. The Captains dug deep, though, and put together a mammoth run to force the Eagles back on their heels. CNU scored five straight points before Mary Washington managed to set up match point, 24-19, and then the Captains finished out an 8-1 run to pull within two, 24-22.
Avery Hanly had a big kill and a pair of Eagle errors kept the hope alive, but the clinching point came off a block attempt that trickled just wide of the sideline and sent the Mary Washington bench into a celebration.
The Captains will now shift focus to the weekend when the Freeman Center will play host to Salisbury University and Washington and Lee University for a tri-match. CNU will first face off against the Sea Gulls on Friday, October 30 at 6:00 p.m. before facing the Generals on Saturday 2:00 p.m.
