NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The 25th-ranked Salisbury University volleyball team saw its 14-match winning streak end at the hands of Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) rival Christopher Newport, falling to the Captains 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) on Friday evening at the Freeman Center.
Tied 12-12 in the first set, the Sea Gulls scored four in a row, solidifying a 16-12 lead on a kill by
Kiley McTaggart. With Salisbury ahead 19-14 later on, the Captains came roaring back with a 10-1 run, pushing it to set point at 24-20. SU regrouped and netted the next three, but Samantha Dorn's strike clinched the opening fixture for CNU, 25-23.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with Salisbury finding a groove midway through and flipping a 15-13 hole into a 17-15 advantage. CNU answered with two straight, and the score ended up tied at every point from 17 to 22. The Captains then got a pair on an Alyssa Dozier kill and block to get to a 24-22 set point;
Jackie Mitchell kept the Sea Gulls in it with a kill, but a service error wrapped the set up for CNU, 25-23.
The Sea Gulls scored the first five points of the third set, including back-to-back kills by
Emma Quandt, and held CNU at an arm's length until they led 19-14. From there CNU found a different level, though, closing the set and the match on an 11-0 run. Dorn blasted one final kill to salt it away for the Captains, 25-19.
GAME NOTES
- Kiley McTaggart led the Sea Gulls up front with 10 kills.
- Gwen Eustace landed nine kills, while Emma Quandt chipped in seven kills on a .353 swing percentage.
- Julie Altieri registered 26 assists and 14 digs for her 13th double-double on the year.
- Grace Rail paced the backline with 20 digs, her fourth straight match with at least 20 digs.
- Jackie Mitchell dug out 15 attacks, while Prudence Marco and Natalie Uibel added 12 apiece.
- The Sea Gulls swung .086 as a team with 34 kills against 21 errors.
- The loss snaps SU's longest winning streak since 2012 and marks the team's first defeat since Sept. 14 against Washington & Lee.
- CNU's victory also erases a five-match winning streak for Salisbury in the series. The Captains last defeated SU on Oct. 2, 2022.
The Sea Gulls will look to regroup on Sunday with a visit to Gettysburg in a makeup of a match originally scheduled for Sept. 28. First serve from Gettysburg, Pa., is set for 1 p.m.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 199 conference championships, and 50 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
