Eagles rally to knock off Colonels
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman beach volleyball team rattled off three straight wins to pull away from Eastern Kentucky to earn their third straight victory of the season at the Tusculum Pioneer Tournament.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman beach volleyball team rattled off three straight wins to pull away from Eastern Kentucky to earn their third straight victory of the season at the Tusculum Pioneer Tournament.
The Eagles took an early 1-0 lead after Lindsey Geurin and Taylor Keeran swept their match at the no. five position, defeating Bailey Rima and Valerie Franklin 21-18 and 21-15. The duo have won all three matches this season in straight sets.
EKU tied the match back up at one apiece with a win by Sydney Schoen and Maddy Campbell over Julia Wheeler and Morgan Siwiec at no. four. Wheeler and Siwiec dropped set one 21-19 before pulling away for a 21-12 win in the second set. The duo could not complete the comeback, falling in the third set 15-9.
Jenny Ille and McKenna Hall teamed up for the first time this season at the no. three position, sweeping Elizabeth Fonvielle and Kaylin Johnson 21-17 and 21-19. The match is Hall's first win of her career, while Ille moves to 3-0.
Carson-Newman clinched the match with a win at the no. two position by Abby Hildenbrand and Kenzie Palmer. After dropping the first set 21-19 to Paityn Walker and Sarah Mitchell, the duo rebounded to roll to a 21-14 victory in the second set. The Eagles clinched the match with a 15-8 win in set three. The match clinching victory is Palmer's first career win at Carson-Newman and moves her winning streak in beach volleyball to ten straight matches at two different schools after she went 9-0 in 2021 at Fullerton College.
The no. one pair of Sierra Still and Mia Toribio continued to roll, knocking off Shannon Stone and defending OVC Player of the Year Hannah Keating in three sets. The duo rolled in set one 21-11, before falling 21-19 in set two. Still and Toribio collected their third win of the season by pulling away to a 15-10 win in the third set.
�� First career wins for @mckennahall07 and Kenzie Palmer
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 26, 2022
�� Three straight wins for @sierrastill6 / Mia Toribio and @KeeranTaylor / @lindseygeurin
�� @cnbeachvb picks up their first win of the season over a D-I opponent pic.twitter.com/5qi9oe7I2Z
In her first match of her career, Kat Nelson picked up the win in the exhibition match with Alanis Mendez over Miya Carmichael and Kali Walker in straight sets 21-17 and 21-19.
With the win, the Eagles start the year 3-0 for the first time since 2020 and for just the second time in school history. C-N also moves to 3-1 all-time over EKU, the most wins by the Eagles over one Division-I team. Carson-Newman improves to just 7-35 all-time against D-I teams, but are 2-3 in their last five matches.
The Eagles return to Greeneville tomorrow, Feb. 26, with a pair of matches against host Tusculum and Chattanooga. The first match against the Pioneers begins at 9:00 AM.
