The University of Mary Washington volleyball team defeated Regent University, 3-1, in the first round of the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday morning, but fell in the semifinals to Christopher Newport University, 3-0, to snap its 10-match win streak and move to 15-10 on the season.
UMW opened with a 25-17, 26-28, 25-9, 2518 victory over Regent. The Eagles jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first, but the Royals rebounded to pull to within 9-8. Kills from
Alice Holoubek,
Sierra Hunt, and
Sarah Starling extended the lead to 12-8, but Regent stuck around. An ace from
Julia Gustafson upped UMW's advantage to 16-12, and three straight Eagle points gave them a 20-15 lead. Following a timeout, UMW scored five of the final seven points, highlighted by two kills each from Hunt and Starling.
In the second, the Eagles fell behind, 5-3, but gained the lead at 7-6. Regent scored six straight to take a 12-8 lead, but UMW gained momentum and tied the score at 16-16. UMW led, 22-20, but Regent scored four straight to lead, 24-22. UMW tied the score, and the teams traded points until Regent came away with a 28-26 win.
The Eagles rolled in the third, hitting .500, while Regent tallied seven kills and six errors, and the Eagles maintained that momentum to a 25-18 win in the fourth.
Holoubek scored 16 kills to lead UMW, while
Natalie Brown and Starling each posted 11.
Naomi Decker led with 24 assists, and
Avery Lefman added 18, and Gustafson added 15 digs, while Decker scored 13.
The Eagles then fell to top-seeded Christopher Newport, 25-20, 25-16, 25-23. UMW struggled with accuracy in the first, and then saw the Captains heat up in the second with 17 kills against two errors. In all, UMW hit .108 in defeat.
Brown led UMW with eight kills, and Hunt added seven. Decker had nine assists, and Gustafson posted eight digs in the match.
The Eagles will face Salisbury University in the third place match on Saturday at Ron Rosner Arena at noon.
