COLLEGE WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
CNU ousts 3-time defending NCAA champ
Christopher Newport stunned three-time defending NCAA Division III champion Juniata 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-21) Friday on the second day of Virginia Wesleyan’s regional at TowneBank Arena.
Alyssa Dozier had 16 kills, Fielding Croft had 29 assists and Grassfield High graduate Maddie Hanes had a team-high eight digs for CNU (26-7).
In the last coaches’ poll before the 64-team tournament began, CNU was 29th and Juniata was eighth, having beaten the Captains 3-1 on Sept. 19 in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Both teams were coming off victories Thursday, but CNU led virtually throughout the first two sets against Juniata (28-6). The Eagles moved ahead early in the third, but the Captains came back to advance to Saturday’s 3 p.m. regional final — whose victor will head to the national quarterfinals.
Friday’s second match at TowneBank Arena was to feature No. 15 Virginia Wesleyan (32-2) against No. 16 Berry (25-7).
Thursday night, playing its first NCAA tourney home match ever, VWU dominated John Jay of New York 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-16).
Brianna Clay had nine kills, Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year Hannah Smith had eight kills, Niya Nash had 26 assists and Skylar Rivers made 11 digs for the Marlins.
COLLEGE FIELD HOCKEY
CNU’s unbeaten season ends in NCAA semifinal
Christopher Newport suffered its only loss of a landmark season, falling 1-0 to Tufts of Boston in a Division III semifinal in Hartford, Connecticut.
The top-seeded Captains (19-1) were outshot 8-5 by the sixth-seeded Jumbos (18-3). Lilly Ragusa scored in the 18th minute, early in the second quarter. CNU goalie Lily Kerr made three saves and saw several Tufts shots barely miss the cage, but Jumbos keeper Lydia Eastburn needed to make just two saves for a shutout.
Tufts advanced to Sunday’s noon title game against No. 2 Johns Hopkins, which beat No. 3 Babson 2-1.
Jamestown alumna helps Princeton reach NCAA final
In the Division I semifinals at Duke’s stadium, second-seeded Princeton (18-3) shut out third-seeded Harvard 2-0. Jamestown High alumna Gabby Anderson played all 60 minutes as a freshman defender/midfielder for the Tigers, who will face Northwestern for the title Sunday. The unseeded Wildcats (21-1) stunned North Carolina 4-3 in overtime, overcoming a 3-1 third-quarter deficit and ending the Tar Heels’ year at 21-2.
Princeton’s Anna Faulstich broke a scoreless tie with 3:45 remaining, and Caitlin Thompson made it 2-0 with 15 seconds remaining.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER
Shutout puts top-seeded UVA in NCAA’s final 16
Virginia, one of the NCAA Tournament’s four No. 1 seeds, shut out Penn State 2-0 at Klockner Stadium to advance to the round of 16.
UVA (14-3-4) advanced to a 2 p.m. Sunday game in Charlottesville against Washington.
Maggie Cagle scored in the 33rd minute by rebounding Jill Flammia’s shot. Lia Godfrey doubled the lead from assists by Tatum Galvin and Ella Carter in the 68th minute.
The Nittany Lions, seeded eighth in their quadrant of the 64-team bracket, finished 10-8-4.
Earlier at Klockner Stadium, Alex Buck scored 8:01 into overtime to lift Washington over Arkansas 1-0. The fourth-seeded Huskies outshot the fifth-seeded Razorbacks 17-11.
COLLEGE TENNIS
UVA men’s tandem reaches NCAA semis
Virginia senior Mans Dahlberg and junior Dylan Dietrich earned a spot in the NCAA men’s doubles semifinals at the USTA National Campus near Orlando, Florida.
Having already knocked off the tournament’s top seeds, a Mississippi State combination, in the round of 16, they rallied past Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima of Ohio State 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-5) in a quarterfinal. They will face Florida’s Tanapatt Nirundorn and Henry Jefferson in a semifinal Saturday.
In the women’s doubles quarterfinals, UVA senior Annabelle Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas fell 6-0, 6-4 to Vanderbilt’s Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr, the No. 4 seeds. Webster is the niece of Pete Sampras, one of tennis’ all-time greats.
PRO BASEBALL
Mo’ne Davis chosen 10th in first WPBL draft
Former Hampton University softball player and 2014 Little League legend Mo’ne Davis, 24, was chosen 10th overall by Los Angeles in the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League draft.
Pitcher/outfielder Kelsie Whitmore, 27, who played for the Savannah Bananas last season, was chosen first, by San Francisco.
They were among 120 players selected in the six-round draft that also included teams representing New York and Boston. Play is scheduled to begin Aug. 1, and all games will be in Springfield, Illinois.
