Tenacious Eagles stave off ‘Splitters charge to win in five
September 14, 2021

Tenacious Eagles stave off ‘Splitters charge to win in five

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After leading 2-0 in the match, Carson-Newman dropped sets three and four and faced a pair of match points in the fifth to win in five frames and beat Lincoln Memorial 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25 and 18-16 Tuesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference action.

VIDEO: Match Highlights

VIDEO: Ashley Tiernan Inteview

VIDEO: Abbey Hildenbrand Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After leading 2-0 in the match, Carson-Newman dropped sets three and four and faced a pair of match points in the fifth to win in five frames and beat Lincoln Memorial 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25 and 18-16 Tuesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference action.

"We talked about grit when we went down to the locker room," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "The grit at the end of the match, we know that needs to happen in the middle. I love the fact that we were able to put things aside and play volleyball at the end. We had the grit regardless of the back and forth score. I'm really proud of this group for what they accomplished at the end of the match."

Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.) led the way with 41 assists, 11 digs and nine kills hitting .179 adding an ace and three block assists in the match. It was her third double-double of the year as she angles for the first triple-double in the program's recorded history.

"I love my team and my teammates so much," Hildenbrand said. "It's huge to know that they trust me and that I 100 percent trust them. Whatever situation we are in we are going to do it together and we are going to grind."

Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) led all players with 18 kills on the night adding 18 digs resetting her career high in the kills department. Taylor Keeran (Gailon, Ohio) also notched a career-high in that area with a dozen. Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) recorded her third double-double of the year with 10 kills and 17 digs.

Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) led the back line with 27 of the team's 91 digs. Overall the Eagles posted a .185 hitting percentage racking up nine blocks and 10 service aces.

After LMU won the opening two points of the night, the Eagles won seven of the next eight including five unanswered to go ahead by four. That figure would be the threshold they could never get above the rest of the set. LMU pulled within one at 12-11 and won back-to-back points to close the gap to 24-23 before Julia Wheeler crushed a ball off of an opponent's body to put the home club ahead 1-0.

There were six ties in the second stanza, all of them coming in the first half of the game. With the score tied at 11, Carson-Newman reeled off seven of the next eight to take control at 18-12, a margin it held the rest of the way. Keeran blasted a reverberating ball to the ground to close out the set and stretch the lead to 2-0.

Lincoln Memorial won eight of the first 10 points of the third set but Carson-Newman used a 6-0 run to get back level at nine. It would be one of the three times down the stretch the Eagles tied the set including at 21 but a pair of costly service errors aided the 'Splitters to get separation and clinch the set to extend the match to a fourth frame.

In the fourth, the Railsplitters won the first five points and never looked back despite C-N making runs. There were no ties but the Eagles pulled within a point three times using a 6-1 sequence to get chisel into a six-point margin. The visitors won four of five and the home crew could not get any closer than two clinching the fourth to send it to a fifth.

There were seven ties in the fifth with neither team leading by more than two points. With the tally knotted at 11, the Railsplitters won two straight forcing a timeout. C-N won the next two before facing match points at 14-13 and 15-14. The Eagles earned a match point at 16-15 but LMU stayed alive before clinching the contest on a smash by Emmagrace Cobb (High Point, N.C.).

"You think that maybe there is a curse after Saturday," Tiernan said. "We were in the same situation today. What is going on? We really pushed through. Our communication in the huddle was that we can't swing through a double block, there is an open spot and our defense has to talk. We have to call it. We have to have that volleyball IQ and the communication has to be super high at that moment."

Richlyn Ross led the Railsplitters with 14 kills from the right pin hitting .314 while Kristen Moehring added a dozen. Emily Walter posted 26 assists and 16 digs and Chloe Britton added 15 assists and 13 digs.

The Eagles begin a six-match road swing this weekend starting on Friday at 1 p.m. against Christian Brothers in the first of four matches of the Union Tournament in Jackson, Tenn.

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