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FINAL FOUR WIN! Captains Headed to First Ever National Championship Game With a 3-0 Sweep of #9 Carthage
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ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- CNU is headed to the NCAA National Championship!
The sixth-ranked Captains swept the ninth-ranked Carthage Lady
Reds, 3-0, to earn the team's first ever trip to the championship.
The Captains improved to 38-4, dropping Carthage to 34-7 after a
25-14, 25-22, 25-11 win. CNU had a stellar match defensively,
holding one of the nation's top ten teams to a negative hitting
percentage for the match, at -.023.
CNU had 12 blocks in the match, led by junior Bailey
Jensen with two solo and four assisted. Junior
Christie
Fellows added five assisted and seniors
Jessie
Heavenrich and Chelsea
McClure each had three apiece. Defensive
specialist Abby
Hogge had 21 of the Captains 63 digs in the
match.
"We played unbelievable defense tonight against a great offensive
team," said head coach Lindsay
Birch. "Carthage is as legit a team as we played
all season and I'm proud of the way we neutralized their attack.
I'm incredibly proud of all 16 players and our coaching staff for
tonight's performance -- but we have one game left before we
celebrate."
Christopher Newport will now advance to play in Sunday's national
championship game, set for 5:00 pm (CST)/6:00 pm (EST). The
Captains are looking to earn the school's first national
championship outside of Track & Field.
CNU took an early 9-5 lead in the first set led by junior
Cory
Harris, forcing a Lady Reds timeout. Harris had
a pair of kills in the early run. Carthage answered to pull back
into a tie at 14 points apiece; an attack error put CNU up 15-14 in
the first media timeout.
After the media, the Captains substituted freshman Brooke
Moore back to serve, and she would be on the
back line for the rest of the set. CNU ran off 11 straight points
to win the first set, 25-14, as the Captains dominated the second
half of the first. A pair of assisted blocks by Jensen and
Heavenrich punctuated the run and match point came as Jensen
slammed a hard shot down the left side for the win, 25-14.
CNU hit .233 in the first, holding the Lady Reds to a
negative-.047 hitting.
Jensen continued her solid defense early in the second set as CNU
took an 8-2 lead on a pair of back-to-back blocks by Jensen,
followed by a kill from the junior middle. CNU led by as many as
seven, 13-6, but Carthage powered all the way back with eight of
the next nine points to tie the set at 14 for the second straight
set. Another kill from Harris gave CNU the lead at the media
timeout, 15-14.
Carthage took its first lead of the set at 18-17 on an attack
error by CNU but junior Christie
Fellows answered for the Captains with a long
kill from the right side. Another block by Jensen and Heavenrich
put CNU back on top, 19-18.
With the score tied at 20-20, the two teams battled in an
extremely long rally with several amazing defensive plays to keep
the play going and Carthage won the point on a kill by Cindy
Cavanagh. The contentious battle continued as the teams traded
points until a block from Fellows and McClure put CNU up 23-22. An
ace from Heavenrich set up game point and fittingly, another block
from Jensen gave CNU the second set win, 25-22, in the dramatic
battle.
Carthage came into the third set with the memory on the same floor
from a week ago, when they upset host Washington University by
coming all the way back from a two-set deficit to win, 3-2. The
Captains denied any déjà vu though, dominating the
third set from wire-to-wire. The Captains put away the Lady Reds
this time, winning the third set 25-11.
Senior Chelsea
McClure finished out the match for the second straight
day with a kill to send CNU to the national championship. Her
classmate Jessie
Heavenrich led the way offensively, setting up 27 kills
on the day, while adding five digs and one kill. Harris had a
match-high 10 kills and hit .323 for CNU, while Hogge had an
impressive day with 21 digs.
Carthage was led by Michelle Madeja with 10 kills. Drewann
Pancratz had 17 assists and Izzy Shaindlin had 18 digs for the Lady
Reds.
CNU will now await the winner of the other National Semifinal
between Wittenberg and Eastern being played at 7:00 p.m. The 2011
NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball game will be presented via
live stats and a live webcast through NCAA.com. A viewing party
will be held on campus at the Gaines Theater in the Freeman
Center.
