NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport volleyball team opened up the 2026 schedule on Tuesday night with a dominant 3-0 victory against Regent University (25-10, 25-13, 25-19). The Captains improved to 23-1 all-time in home openers under head coach
Lindsay Birch, who secured her 668th career victory with the start.
Headlining the action was senior
Alli Pratt, who matched her career-high with 11 kills in the match and her third career double-figure performance. She finished with a .500 attack percentage on 20 swings after pairing those 11 kills with just one error in the match. Additionally, sophomore All-American setter
Fielding Croft opened the season with 23 of the 36 assists in the match for CNU while veterans
Avery Hanly (8) and
Carley Coghill (7) added strong performances at the net.
In addition to the standout performance by Pratt, senior defensive specialist
Maddie Hanes made history with her 1,000th career collegiate dig. After piling up 562 digs at Virginia Wesleyan University, now Batten University, Hanes transferred to CNU and has added 441 digs in 119 sets. After her first 35 matches played for the Royal Blue and Silver, she ranks fourth all-time at CNU with 3.71 digs per set.
Pratt added three solo blocks and Coghill had a pair as CNU finished the day with five total blocks in the match. Hanes' historic effort led all players with 13 digs defensively.
The Captains raced out to an early lead by hitting .458 in the opening set with just two attack errors. The defense held Regent to a negative hitting percentage in the match, finishing at -.065, including a dominant opening set that saw the CNU defense allow just 10 points on four kills and eight errors (-.138).
The catalyst for the match-opening victory was a 10-point run with Croft at the service stripe. After a Royals error kickstarted the run and put Croft on the line, the Captains ran off a brutal run that included a pair of Croft aces and kills by Hanly, Coghill, and Pratt. Forcing a second timeout with a 17-3 lead, the Captains rolled to the set one victory by outscoring the visitors, 8-7, the rest of the way. Pratt added two more kills and Coghill had another before the set was clinched on a service error for a 25-10 win.
In the second set, the Captains led wire-to-wire again despite a feisty start by the Royals. It was 5-5 after back-to-back mini-runs by each team before CNU again put its collective foot on the throttle. The home team scored 10 of the next 11 points to pull away, 15-6, with
Phoebe Adams and Hanes doing the bulk of the work at the service line. Adams found the floor with an ace to make it 9-5 and then Hanes' work at the line led to rookie
Jasmine Williams notching her first career kill to make it 11-6. Adams, Coghill, and Pratt each added kills as CNU built the lead to nine. In the latter stages of the set, two more Captains picked up aces as rookie
Sylvia Wargolet and sophomore
Emmy Carpenedo each took the lead behind the line.
At the start of the third set, the Captains faced their first deficit of the season, falling behind 3-1 before
Madison Rogers blasted a kill into the hardwood, helping CNU right the ship with three of the next four points. Down 8-7, the Captains followed the same script as the previous two sets with another big run, scoring nine of the next 12 points to take a 16-11 lead. Wargolett and Williams added back-to-back bullets while Pratt and Coghill continued their strong efforts by extending the lead.
Regent pulled back within two twice at 17-15 and 20-18, but the Captains closed out the season-opening victory with five of the final six points to clinch the 25-19 win in set number three. Pratt put the punctuation mark on the outing with her final two kills, matching her career-high, and Adams triggered the team celebration with a match-clinching ace.
Pratt, a senior from Yorktown, Va., established her career-high with 11 kills against Susquehanna on October 26, 2024. She also hit .500 against the River Hawks.
As a team, the Captains hit .345 with 38 kills on 84 attempts.
Christopher Newport will return to action on Friday, September 4 as they open play at the Captains ClassicTournament. CNU will host No. 25 NYU, No. 12 Juniata, and No. 7 Wisconsin - Eau Claire over the weekend with the first match scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Friday against the NYU Violets.
