VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. – The Cortland women's volleyball team saw its season conclude as the sixth-seeded Red Dragons lost in four sets to third-seeded Christopher Newport University in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at Virginia Wesleyan University.
 
Christopher Newport (25-7) defeated Cortland in a hard-fought battle, 25-16, 27-25, 24-26, 25-18. Cortland, making its fifth straight NCAA playoff appearance and 29th overall, closes the year with a 24-8 record. Christopher Newport will face either Juniata or Grove City in the second round Friday afternoon. The Captains are among the "others receiving votes" section in the latest AVCA Division III national poll.
 
Junior Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) led Cortland with 13 kills and added 13 digs and four blocks. Sophomore Lauren Millspaugh (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) finished with nine kills and six blocks, three solo, and senior Emalee Ballou (Eden) had seven kills and two blocks.
 
Senior Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) recorded five kills and a team-high eight blocks. Sophomore Melissa O'Connor (Hauppauge) totaled 18 assists and seven digs, sophomore Lily Coan (Sayville) finished with 10 assists, and senior Alyssa Rich (Rochester/Churchville-Chili) led the Red Dragons with 16 digs.
 
Alyssa Dozier led CNU with 27 kills and finished with a .392 attack percentage. Simara Alexander had 13 kills and three blocks and Samantha Dorn finished with 10 kills. Avery Hanly and Emmy Carpenedo led the Captains with 24 and 20 digs, respectively, and Fielding Croft ended with 53 assists.
 
Cortland finished the match with a .157 attack percentage. The Red Dragons bounced back from hitting .088 in the first set to hit .200 in the second and .277 in the third, but they dropped to a .000 percentage in the fourth with eight kills and eight errors. CNU hit .244 for the match, including .378 in the first and .304 in the second before slipping to .204 in the third and .062 in the fourth. Cortland finished the match with 14 team blocks compared to CNU's five, while the Captains had 11 aces to Cortland's five.
 
CNU led 6-1 to start the first set before Cortland fought back to within 13-11. CNU responded with a 5-1 run to go up 18-12 and led by at least four from that point. The second set featured 11 ties and three lead changes. Cortland trailed 24-22 but fought off two CNU set points on a Pirrera kill and a Millspaugh block. CNU regained the lead on an Alexander kill, but a service error brought Cortland back to a tie at 25-25. Cortland appeared to take the lead with a kill on the next point, but the Red Dragons were called for a rotation violation, which awarded the point instead to CNU. The Captains then won the set on an Alexander kill.
 
Cortland shook off the tough second-set loss and took a 6-1 lead to start the third set. CNU slowly fought back and the Captains tied the score at 19-19. The set also was tied at 20-20 and 21-21 before Cortland went up 23-21 on a block by Reilly and Pirrera and a Pirrera kill. After a Cortland service error, Millspaugh recorded a kill to put the Red Dragons up 24-22. CNU came back to tie the set on a Cortland misplay and a Dorn kill, but Cortland scored the last two points on a CNU attack error and a Sanaiya Whitted (Poughkeepsie/Franklin D. Roosevelt) kill to win 26-24.
 
The fourth set was tied 4-4 before CNU scored six of the next seven points to go up 10-5. The Red Dragons were within three points twice after that, the last at 14-11, but the Captains pushed forward with a 9-2 run to take control. Down 24-15, Cortland fought off three match points before a Carpenedo kill gave the Captains the victory.