Cruising Eagles off to best start since 2007
September 6, 2022

Cruising Eagles off to best start since 2007

HARROGATE, Tenn. - Winning for the ninth time in the first 10 matches of the year, Carson-Newman kept its toasty start to 2022 rolling with a four-set win at Lincoln Memorial, 25-20, 25-11, 17-25 and 26-24, Tuesday night at Mary Mars Gym in South Atlantic Conference play.

HARROGATE, Tenn. - Winning for the ninth time in the first 10 matches of the year, Carson-Newman kept its toasty start to 2022 rolling with a four-set win at Lincoln Memorial, 25-20, 25-11, 17-25 and 26-24, Tuesday night at Mary Mars Gym in South Atlantic Conference play.

"We are always happy about a win and this win is no different," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We have a lot of discipline that we need to tighten up for our near future success. We will get back in the gym tomorrow and work through some mental barriers that we showed tonight."

Carson-Newman (9-1, 2-0) has won eight straight matches, good for its longest winning streak since 2014. The 9-1 start to the season is the best by the program since opening the 2007 campaign with 13 straight victories.

The Eagles earned a sixth straight win over Lincoln Memorial (2-7, 0-1) winning in Harrogate for the fourth straight trip and the fifth time in the last six.

Julia Wheeler, once again named the TSWA Player of the Week on Tuesday, paved the way for the Eagles with 17 kills and 15 digs. Four Eagles finished with at least eight smashes with Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) adding nine and nine scoops. Skylor Weaver (Katy, Texas) and Emmagrace Cobb (Greensboro, N.C.) each had eight with Weaver doing it on 10 swings without a misfire.

Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.) tallied 22 assists and eight digs and Carlee Allbaugh (Tallahassee, Fla.) posted 20 and seven respectively. Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) led the group with 18 digs. 

There were seven ties and four lead changes in the opening game despite the visitors going ahead 11-6. Lincoln Memorial won five straight and seven of eight to jump ahead. C-N built back a charge going ahead 20-19 before taking five of the final six thanks to a blast by Wheeler to go ahead 1-0.

Carson-Newman wasted no time flexing its muscle in the second stanza winning nine of the first 11 points. While there was one sequence where the Railsplitters won four straight points, the Eagles won eight of the final nine to take a 2-0 lead.

It was seesaw start to the third with the Eagles holding a 7-6 edge only to allow four straight and an 8-1 scoring outburst by the home team. LMU continued to pull away hitting .256 for the third set as Ketura Margaret bouncing a ball off of the ground to trim the match to 2-1.

In the fourth frame, the teams went back and forth for 10 ties and three lead changes. Neither side gained a bulge of greater than three until a 5-0 run by the Eagles put the team ahead 17-13. LMU chiseled away and took a lead at 23-22 only to give up back-to-back points. After missing out on a chance on the first match point, the Orange and Blue finished the job on a LMU ball handling error.

Margaret was the lone Railsplitter in double figures on the attack with a dozen hitting .333. Amanda Lisi tacked on 28 assists and 13 digs. MJ Trujillo and Kristen Moehring added 12 and 11 digs respectively.

With two more road contests to go before opening Holt Fieldhouse, the Eagles swing through Gaffney, S.C. on Saturday to face Limestone at 2 p.m.

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