NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Earning a fitting punctuation mark to an illustrious career as a student-athlete at Christopher Newport University, senior volleyball star Alyssa Dozier was honored as the 2026 Klich Academic Achievement Award winner. The honor is bestowed to the graduate or graduates who begin and complete their academic careers at CNU, and who has earned the highest cumulative grade-point average. 

The award is named in honor of Christopher Newport alumnus and Hampton Roads real estate developer and investor, Gregory Klich ('84). 

Dozier earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and will graduate on Saturday cumma sum laude with a pair of bachelor's degrees. She earned her first Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Arts and Humanities in History; Dozier added a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Social Sciences in Political Science. 

In the classroom, Dozier made history for CNU Athletics as she became the first Captain in any sport to be a three-time First Team Academic All-American as recognized by the College Sports Communicators. One of only 13 volleyball players in NCAA and NAIA history to earn three first team certificates, Dozier was also the first NCAA Division III volleyball player to ever accomplish the feat. She was named the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2025 and is a three-time Academic All-Conference pick. 

On the court, Dozier was a record-setting athlete for the Captains' nationally-ranked volleyball team. The middle blocker from Arlington, Va. was the focal point of the CNU offense and defense over the last four years and became the program's all-time leader in blocks with 490 terminations at the net. She also finished her tenure ranking fourth in career kills (1,368) and fourth in attack percentage (.324) after registering one of the most dominant single seasons in CNU lore during 2025. Her senior campaign featured the most kills in a season since 2012 and ranks in the top-ten all-time at CNU while she became just the third player in program history to hit over .400 for a single season (.402). 

Adding to her mantel the 2026 Klich Achievement Award, Dozier will end her tenure at Christopher Newport with one of the most decorated individual trophy cases in CNU Athletics history. She earned first team All-America plaudits from the AVCA in 2025 to cap a three-time All-American career for the Captains. Dozier was the first player in program history to be named the AVCA Region Player of the Year this season and was also tabbed the Region Rookie of the Year in 2022. She earned Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 and is a four-time Conference Player of the Year pick while also earning C2C Rookie of the Year plaudits in 2022. 

A member of Chi Alpha Sigma, the national honor society recognizing student-athletes who excel on and off the field of play, she was also a CNU Honors Program student. Dozier intends to attend graduate school at George Mason University to earn her Master's degree and plans to become a teacher in the future.

Dozier is the fourth CNU student-athlete to garner the award since 2014 joining cheerleader Gretchen Jewell (2014), and tennis players Brook Byrd (2017) and Kara Ferner (2021).