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Julie Altieri, 10-26-24
FOTOJOE PHOTOGRAPHY INC./Joey Gardner
2
Salisbury SAL 24-6
3
Winner Chris. Newport CNU 24-9
Salisbury SAL
24-6
2
Final
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Chris. Newport CNU
24-9
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Salisbury SAL 22 25 20 32 13 (2)
Chris. Newport CNU 25 13 25 30 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Will DeBoer

Volleyball drops five-set heartbreaker to CNU in C2C title match

Altieri eclipses 1,000 assists for season; Sea Gulls await NCAA Tournament fate

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Facing three straight match points in set four, the top-seeded Salisbury University volleyball team rallied to force a fifth set but couldn't finish the job, dropping an ultracompetitive match to the second-seeded Christopher Newport Captains, 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 25-20, 30-32, 15-13), in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament championship on Saturday evening at the Freeman Center.
 
The Sea Gulls muscled ahead 14-11 in the first set before the Captains clawed back and built a 20-17 lead. SU hung tough and cut it to 21-20, but CNU netted four of the last six points, salting away the opener 25-22 on a kill from Samantha Dorn.
 
The second set was all Sea Gulls, who gave up the first point and then scored the next eight, with Gwen Eustace and Kiley McTaggart landing two kills apiece during the run. CNU never got closer than five through the rest of the fixture, and Julie Altieri fed Natalie Uibel for the final blast to draw SU even, 25-13.
 
The third set mirrored the first, with the two sides dancing evenly before the Captains began to pull away. Nursing a 19-18 lead, CNU notched the next three points to go up 22-18 as part of a 6-2 set-closing run. Alyssa Dozier provided the clinching strike at 25-20.
 
The Captains controlled the momentum for the bulk of the fourth set, going up by as many as five and holding critical leads of 23-18 and 24-21. Facing match point, SU was granted two straight reprieves on a service error and ball handling error, then Altieri tied it 24-24 with a kill and a bolt from Eustace gave the Sea Gulls set point at 25-24. CNU fought off five straight set points and moved back to match point at 30-29, but two straight kills from Alyssa DeWaal and Eustace put SU in the driver's seat again, and a Captain attack error capped the marathon fixture in Salisbury's favor, 32-30.
 
The two sides duked it out to begin the fifth set, matching each other until the 8-8 mark, at which point the Captains landed three in a row to go up 11-8. The Sea Gulls settled down and cut it down to one point at 13-12 on a kill from McTaggart, but Dozier's kill moved CNU to match point at 14-12. After an attack error kept the door open for SU, Dozier struck one final time and delivered the Captains the title, 15-13.
 
GAME NOTES
  • Julie Altieri registered career highs in both assists (56) and digs (20), plus eight kills, for her 18th double-double on the year.
  • With her 44th assist in set four, Altieri eclipsed 1,000 assists for the season, just the ninth time in program history a setter has hit a thousand assists in one year and the first since Carley Todd (1,217) in 2012.
  • Gwen Eustace set a new career high with 22 kills, swinging .556 for the match after committing just two errors. She also earned six blocks (three solo) with six digs.
  • Kiley McTaggart powered down 13 kills with four digs.
  • Natalie Uibel posted a double-double with 10 kills and 20 digs.
  • Grace Rail chased down a season-high 30 digs to go along with four assists and three service aces.
  • Prudence Marco corralled 15 digs, while Kayla Pedersen added 13.
  • Eustace (34 kills, nine blocks) and McTaggart (26 kills, five blocks) were selected to the C2C All-Tournament Team.
  • The Sea Gulls hit .203 as a team on the way to a season-high 70 kills, just the ninth time an SU volleyball team has recorded 70-plus kills in one match.
 
With a 24-6 record and a C2C runner-up finish on their resume, the Sea Gulls will wait and see if they have earned an at-large bid into the 2024 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
 
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming) and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's 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 won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 201 conference championships, and have produced 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.
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