NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The 19
th-ranked Christopher Newport volleyball team suffered a 3-0 setback to No. 7 Wisconsin – Eau Claire (1-1) to close out the 2026 Captains Classic. Christopher Newport falls to 2-2 on the season. CNU dropped the match in a 25-23, 25-22, 25-20 final.
Rookie
Jasmine Williams and junior
Avery Hanly led the way for the Captains with nine kills apiece. Sophomore
Fielding Croft added 28 assists while three Captains finished with double-digit digs including 11 for Hanly,
Maddie Hanes, and 10 for
Phoebe Adams.
The Captains were taking on their third straight foe ranked in the top-25 and the seventh top-10 regular season opponent in the last three seasons. It is just the second all-time matchup against the Blugolds after the two paired off in 2019 in the same tournament where UWEC earned a 3-1 win.
In the first set, the Captains fell behind, 8-4, but rallied to take their first lead of the match, 13-12 and ultimately extended all the way to 15-12 courtesy of an 11-4 spurt.
Simara Alexander kicked things off with a kill and Adams notched a pair before dropping in an ace to pull CNU within one. Hanly added back-to-back bullets before
Alli Pratt forced a UWEC timeout with another kill.
CNU held the lead until it was 17-15 and the visitors re-took the advantage with a mini-run of their own. The Blugolds scored five of the next six points to lead, 20-18. The set teetered back-and-forth for the next several points before
Fielding Croft landed a dump that closed the gap back to one, 23-22, but UWEC answered for set point. Despite another kill by Hanly, the Blugolds finished off the narrow win in the first set, 25-23, with a kill by Mya CInnamo.
The second set followed a similar script with the Blugolds opening up a 7-1 lead before CNU started to chip away. Little by little, the Captains trimmed the lead until finally knotting the set up at 16 points apiece. The meticulous climb included kills by Adams, Alexander, and a pair by rookie
Jasmine Williams. Hanly split defenders in the middle of the floor and then Pratt slipped a soft touch over the outstretched hands of a block to place a kill perfectly into the short corner. Capping the run, Williams went back-to-back again to tie the set at 16-all as the freshman recorded her fourth kill in the comeback.
The top-ten foe answered back, however, and re-took a five-point lead as they threatened to clinch the second set. Down 23-18, the Captains clawed back to within two at set point, 24-22, but Rachel Johnson finished the set with a kill to take a 2-0 lead.
Starting the third, the Captains pulled ahead of the Blugolds by three and led, 10-7, on a service error by the visiting team.
Sylvia Wargolet had a pair of kills and Williams continued her dominant performance with another. The senior, Alexander, also found the floor with a dart early in the third.
UWEC again mounted a comeback to pull ahead on a 7-1 run, taking a 14-11 advantage. Alexander, Pratt, and Hanly kept CNU close before back-to-back kills from Williams and Hanly clawed CNU back within two and forced a timeout at 20-18. Another error by the Blugolds got CNU back within one and the set was tied, 20-20 on a ball hit out of bounds.
Wis. – Eau Claire was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce that just stayed inside the end line to snare the next point. It was enough to spark the match-clinching run for the Blugolds for a 25-20 win.
CNU hit .189 as a team with 37 kills in the match.
The Captains will return to action next weekend at William Paterson University for three matches. CNU will first take on William Smith and the host Pioneers on Friday, September 11 and will close out the weekend on Saturday, September 12.
