VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Christopher Newport volleyball suffered a 3-1 road loss on Wednesday night as the Captains traveled to Batten University and suffered an 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14 setback to the 23rd-ranked Marlins. The Captains fall to 12-6 on the season while Batten improved to 15-3 with the win.
The Captains battled against Batten through every set without letting the deficit grow larger than seven points throughout the first three sets. CNU held a lead for the majority of the match, but the home team managed to pull out the early sets before pulling away in the fourth.
Freshman
Jasmine Williams continues to impress on the offensive side of the ball with another 13 kills on Wednesday. She hit a team-high .435 coming off a record-setting performance at Mary Washington over the weekend when she was 12-for-12 from the floor. Her 25 kills in back-to-back matches are the most by a rookie since teammate
Samantha Dorn recorded 28 in her last two matches of her 2023 rookie campaign.
Joining Williams in double figures was senior
Simara Alexander with 11 kills while hitting .429.
Avery Hanly just missed a double-double with 12 digs paired with her eight kills while
Emmy Carpenedo was also effective offensively and defensively with eight digs and six kills. Facilitating the offense, both
Fielding Croft and
Lauren Hobbs eclipsed 20 assists in the match with Hobbs holding a slight 22-21 advantage between the pair.
In the first set the Captains trailed by five points, 9-4, before tying things up with a 5-0 run with
Maddie Hanes at the service line.
Carley Coghill ripped back-to-back kills and Carpenedo blasted through a block attempt to tie the set up at nine. The home team swung back in front again, 17-12, and the Captains could not right the ship in time as the Marlins finished out the set one victory, 25-18.
The second set favored CNU in the early going with the Captains scoring six of seven points to take a 7-4 lead early. After Batten responded to tie it up, the Captains again opened up a three-point edge, 15-12. In the spurt the offense was spread between Williams, Coghill, Alexander, and
Alli Pratt. Again the Marlins replied with a run to re-take the lead, 19-17, but CNU scored five of the next seven to even things up at 22-all. Unfortunately for the Captains, Batten had the answer late and won the second set, 25-22.
Cutting into the lead with a third set victory, the Captains took their largest lead of the match when they pulled ahead 15-9 midway through the set. Williams, Coghill, Carpenedo, and Hanly all found the floor in the run as CNU created some distance. In front of their home crowd, the Marlins responded to tie things up at 17-all, but like Batten before them, Christopher Newport had the answer. Alexander drilled a cross-court bullet and Croft slammed home a kill to re-take the lead for CNU. The momentum carried CNU to set point where they were denied twice, but finished off the set victory on an error by Batten to win, 25-23.
The Marlins pulled away in the decisive fourth set and opened up an eight-point lead, 17-6. The Captains showed their grit by scoring six of the next seven points, but it wasn't enough as Batten finished off the win, 25-14.
Christopher Newport will return home for the first time in over a month when they host Marymount University this Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.
