WAYNE, N.J.—The William Smith volleyball team rallied from one set down to defeat No. 22 Christopher Newport 3-1 this afternoon to open the 2026 William Paterson Tournament. The win was the second ranked win for the Herons in program history. With the win, William Smith improves to 3-1 on the season, while the Captains fall to 2-3 overall.
The Herons put on an impressive performance against the ranked Captains. Christopher Newport put down 51 kills (.134) as a team, while William Smith combined for 48 kills (.181) in the win. The Captains held a 50-46 edge in assists and a 68-62 advantage in digs, but the Herons responded from the service line, serving up nine aces compared to Christopher Newport's eight. CNU held a slight 8-7 advantage in blocks in the non-conference battle.
First-year Cassidy Breuer shined for William Smith, putting down a match-high 19 kills (.176) in the win. Breuer's 19 kills tied her career high. She also added 12 digs for her second double-double of the season, and chipped in two blocks, two service aces and an assist. Junior Arielle Newsome added eight kills (.222) out of the middle and tallied four digs, three blocks, one assist and one service ace in the win. Classmate Emily Fulton added seven kills (.065), 10 digs, two service aces, one block and one assist in the four-set win. Defensively, junior libero Kali Vanderhoof led the Herons with a season-high 22 digs and two service aces.
Simara Alexander led CNU with 15 kills (.276), four digs, three blocks and one ace in the loss. Alli Pratt added 14 kills (.379), five blocks and one dig for the Captains. Fielding Croft tallied a team-high 46 assists, seven digs, four service aces, two blocks and two kills (.143) in the loss.
MATCH MOMENTS:
- CNU came out strong in the opening set, putting down 10 kills (.259) as a team. William Smith responded with 12 kills (.125) of their own but racked up eight hitting errors in set one, handing the Captains a 25-19 win to open the match.
- The Herons fought back in set two, combining for 12 kills (.171) as a team. CNU put down 14 kills (.084) of their own but added 10 hitting errors in the second set. Breuer led William Smith with four kills in set two, resulting in a 25-22 win for the Herons.
- William Smith continued on its momentum into set three, firing off 10 kills (.182) to grab the match's momentum. The Herons applied the pressure from the service line, forcing the Captains out of system often, resulting in 12 hitting errors in the set. William Smith would close out the third set on top, 25-16, to take the 2-1 lead.
- CNU jumped out to an early lead in the must-win fourth set, but William Smith continued to fight back. Both sides put down a match-high number of kills in the fourth set as the Herons combined for 14 (.237) compared to the Captain's 16 (.270). The back-and-forth battle resulted in a 25-23 win for William Smith thanks to a big kill from Newsome.
MATCH STATS:
- Breuer led the Herons with a match-high 19 kills (.176), while Newsome added eight (.222) out of the middle. Fulton chipped in seven kills (.065), while senior Maren Hunt added six (.333) out of the middle. First-year's Senya Dorny (.214) and Jayden Hanson (.222) tallied four kills each in the win.
- Hanson and junior Delainy Williams led William Smith from the setter position, tallying 26 and 17 assists each, respectively. Hanson chipped in six digs, four kills, two blocks and one service ace, while Williams added six digs and one service ace.
- The Herons combined for 62 digs as a team and were led by Vanderhoof with a season-high 22. Breuer chipped in 12 digs, while Fulton added 10 in the win. Hanson and Williams tallied six digs each in the win, while Newsome added four.
- William Smith served up nine aces in the non-conference win and were led by Vanderhoof, Breuer and Fulton with two aces each. Hanson, Williams and Newsome served up one ace each as well.
- The Green and White showed strong at the net, combining for seven team blocks against the Captains. Hunt led the way with four blocks, while Newsome chipped in three. Breuer and Hanson added two blocks each in the victory.
COACHES CORNER:
"What a great win for our team today!" said Head Coach Derryk Williams. "After losing to Wesleyan on Sunday, our team responded amazingly by watching film, getting reps, and just having a true desire to win. That extra work, drive, and need to win was the difference from today and 5 days ago against a really good team. We have two very important matches tomorrow and I am excited to see how we take the floor."
UP NEXT:
William Smith will be back in action tomorrow to compete on Day 2 of the William Paterson Tournament. The Herons will take on Centenary at 1 p.m. before closing out action against the host Pioneers at 3 p.m.
