Lady Eagles Hold Off Lincoln Memorial, 3-2, to Remain Undefeated
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman volleyball team held off a late Lincoln Memorial comeback to claim a 3-2 (25-16, 25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 16-14) victory over the Railsplitters on Tuesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Holt Fieldhouse.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman volleyball team held off a late Lincoln Memorial comeback to claim a 3-2 (25-16, 25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 16-14) victory over the Railsplitters on Tuesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Holt Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Lady Eagles remain perfect on the year at 5-0 and are now 1-0 in conference play. Lincoln Memorial falls to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in the SAC.
C-N and Lincoln Memorial fought through a decisive fifth set that saw 13 ties and five lead changes. With the set tied at 14, SAC Player of the Week Nikki James (Cookeville, Tenn.) and freshman Courtney Lawson (Chattanooga, Tenn.) put together back-to-back kills to lift C-N to victory.
"We came out really strong in the first two games and played really well," C-N assistant coach Allyson Corhn said. "But Lincoln Memorial came back at us in the third and fourth sets with one of their big hitters. Going into the fifth set, we approached things a little differently and tried to focus on using our big hitters. The girls rallied together and really pulled through for us."
James led the Lady Eagles with 16 kills and five blocks. She finished the match with a team-high .433 hitting percentage. Senior Carly Mozgai (Greensboro, N.C.) added 15 kills, seven digs and five aces, while Carly Swisher (Fort Collins, Colo.) pitched in 13 kills and Rachael Bowlin (Morristown, Tenn.) had nine kills and 12 digs.
Lawson compiled a career-high 31 assists to lead C-N, and sophomore Angelle Hayes (Brentwood, Tenn.) finished with a game-high 20 digs.
Lincoln Memorial's Kaitlin Walton (Muncie, Ind.) had a 20 kills with a .581 hitting percentage to lead the Railsplitters. Blaire Fowler (Fort Worth, Texas) tossed in 13 kills, while Brittany Pugh (Farmersburg, Ind.) dished out 29 assists and Lauren Kiwacka (Tipp City, Ohio) had 19 assists and 10 digs.
The Lady Eagles raced to a 25-16 win in the first set, as Mozgai took care of four out of the final five points with a kill and three service aces.
The Railsplitters opened the second set with a 5-0 run, but C-N outscored Lincoln Memorial 15-7 to take a 15-12 lead. C-N led by as many as seven points before Lawson brought the set to a close with a kill.
After the teams battled to a 10-10 tie in the third set, Lincoln Memorial took control and scored the next eight points, highlighted by four kills by Walton. The Railsplitters went on to hit .387 as a team to win the set 25-18.
Lincoln Memorial knotted the match at two sets apiece with a win in the fourth game. C-N held a 20-15 lead, but the Railsplitters rallied behind the serve of Candace Richardson (Houston, Texas) to score the next eight points and take a 23-20 lead. A service error and attack error on the Lady Eagles sent the match into a decisive fifth set that C-N went on to win.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Friday at Catawba. Match time is set for 6:30 p.m. in Salisbury, N.C.
