Eagles head west to Chattanooga
After winning their first home match in 713 days, the Carson-Newman beach volleyball team heads to Chattanooga for their first road match of the year on Tuesday, Mar. 16.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After winning their first home match in 713 days, the Carson-Newman beach volleyball team heads to Chattanooga for their first road match of the year on Tuesday, Mar. 16.
The first match starts at 5:00 PM, with the second match starting immediately after. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
The Eagles are off to a 2-0 start for the second straight season after defeating Erskine 3-2 and recording their first-ever victory over rival Tusculum in a shortened match 3-1 on Saturday, Mar. 13.
For the first time ever, #CNBV knocks off a team from the Palmetto State and starts the season 1-0 for the second straight year.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 13, 2021
Here are the sights and sounds from today's 3-2 win over the Fleet pic.twitter.com/rzcsHWBEvt
"I am proud of the way our team competed this weekend," says head coach Cat Lind. "We had a great mentality and were focused on controling the things that we could control. We learned a lot about ourselves and I am looking forward to seeing that carry over for us on Tuesday."
The top three pairs for the Eagles helped carry the team to both victories on Saturday, as the no. three group of Lindsey Geurin and Mia Toribio and the no. two group of Abby Streuwing and Sierra Still sit at 2-0. Still and Streuwing recorded the game-winner for both matches, knocking off Erskine 15-21, 21-19, and then closing out the Fleet in a dominating 15-7 third set win. Streuwing and Still won a single set against Tusculum 25-23 to clinch the weekend sweep for Carson-Newman.
The no. one pair of Summer Coulter and Megan Oldenburger ended the weekend 1-0 after a dominating sweep against Erskine, winning 21-17 and 21-9.
Alanis Mendez and Lauren Williams sit at 1-1 after playing six total sets on Saturday. The duo dropped a three-set thriller to the Fleet but gave the Eagles the early advantage against Tusculum, knocking off the Pioneers 21-18, 18-21 and 15-11.
The pairing of Alyssa Johnson and Piper Halcrow recorded two exhibition victories, going the distance in both matches to earn two three-set victories.
Joy Rhodes and Morgan Siwiec are the only current pairing for the Eagles to record a win this year. The two fell to Erskine 12-21, 23-21 and 9-15 in the final set before falling to Tusculum in the evening in straight sets 21-19 and 21-19.
The Chattanooga Mocs are in just their second season of play. The Mocs went 0-3 last year before the season was postponed and sit at 0-3 after losing to three ranked opponents, Coastal Carolina, Mercer and Georgia State, 5-0 at the GSU Tri-Match in Atlanta. Chattanooga was also forced to forfeit two games in all three matches due to lack of players.
The Mocs are coached by Darin Van Horn in his second season. Van Horn is also an assistant for the indoor program at Chattanooga, helping lead the squad to a SoCon Title in 2015.
Chattanooga has yet to record a single game win in their six matches played all-time. This is the first meeting ever between the two squads and the first-ever home match for Chattanooga.
Carson-Newman is just 5-32 against NCAA Division One schools all time, but is 2-2 in their last four matches against higher ranked schools, recorded two wins over Eastern Kentucky. The Eagles lost to the Colonels and Georgia State in their last matchup against two Division One schools on April 13, 2019 at a tournament at Austin Peay.
"I am excited to see how our team responds this week to an even higher level of competition," says Lind.
The Eagles will have a 12 day rest period before heading to the Palmetto State to take on Coastal Carolina in a doubleheader on Mar. 28. The first match is set to start at 10:00 AM in Conway.
