Reigning region titleholders picked third in SAC preseason poll
February 4, 2021

Reigning region titleholders picked third in SAC preseason poll

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coming off of a South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship and its second Southeast Region title in five years, Carson-Newman was selected to finish third with three first-place votes announced by the league on Thursday.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coming off of a South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship and its second Southeast Region title in five years, Carson-Newman was selected to finish third with three first-place votes announced by the league on Thursday.

Other than Wingate getting 10 first-place votes, the Eagles were the only other team to be picked to finish atop the league standings. Since the league started a preseason poll in 2006, C-N had received a total of two first-place votes in the first 14 years. One vote came in 2011 when it was picked third and the other came in 2015 when it was predicted fourth.

This season's team returns four of six starters from the title team of 2019 but will need to replace perennial all-region libero Morgan Ballard and one of the best attackers in school history Marnie Streeter who racked up 1,390 career kills.

Tiernan returns two of the league's best returning players in Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.), both of whom were named preseason All-SAC selections.

Carson-Newman secured its second region title in the last five years to become the first team in program history to hoist two tournament trophies in the same season rushing the floor in a victory over Augusta winning 27-25, 25-21 and 25-23 for its 14th sweep in the last two months.

On Nov. 23, 2019, the Eagles secured their third-ever SAC Tournament title sweeping Queens after beating Mars Hill in the first round and defeating 24th-ranked Wingate for the second time this year, the first time in history that the team has won two matches versus a ranked team in the same season. Only the Bulldogs and former member Presbyterian have hoisted more crowns in the league's history
The Orange and Blue were one of the best blocking teams in the nation finishing second with 338 rejections, third in blocks per set with 2.66 and sixth in opponent's hitting percentage at .113. Katie Parnell (Atlanta) and Kaina Roehrkasse (Fort Collins, Colo.) led the charge finishing third and seventh nationally in total rejections and ninth and 11th in blocks per set. Add Erin Edwards to the mix, and that trio finished with three of the top eight block assist marks in C-N history.

Wingate once again was the odds on favorite to win the league after winning the regular-season title by two games in 2019 over second-place Queens. Anderson was picked fourth, nine points shy of the Eagles before a drop off from the rest of the pack.

Tusculum, Mars Hill and Lenoir-Rhyne fell in the next tier followed by Lincoln Memorial, Catawba, Limestone, Newberry, Coker and UVA Wise.

The Eagles return to the court at the end of February hosting Catawba for one of their five home matches on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse. All home matches are available for free by visiting cneagles.com/live for a video stream.

Rank

School (First-Place Votes)

Points

1

Wingate (10)

154

2

Queens

138

3

Carson-Newman (3)

137

4

Anderson

128

5

Tusculum

104

6

Mars Hill

94

7

Lenoir-Rhyne

90

8

Lincoln Memorial

71

9

Catawba

66

10

Limestone

63

11

Newberry

57

12

Coker

44

13

UVA Wise

24

 - CN -