September 18, 2025

A huge home opener for volleyball will set up bulk of SAC play

Carson-Newman volleyball welcomes Lenoir-Rhyne to Holt Fieldhouse Friday for the home opener to begin a 16 game SAC stretch.

Lenoir-Rhyne

8-2,2-0 SAC

Carson-Newman

10-1,1-1 SAC

Final	1	2	3	T
Lenoir-Rhyne 8-2,2-0 SAC	25	25	25	3
Carson-Newman 10-1,1-1 SAC	21	18	22	0

Cat Collins Full Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – Carson-Newman volleyball welcomes Lenoir-Rhyne to Holt Fieldhouse Friday for the home opener to begin a 16 game SAC stretch.

"We're excited not to travel and sit on a bus. But it's just fun. We love being at home. We love the environment. And we're excited to compete against a really great team<" said head coach Cat Collins.

Lenoir-Rhyne is 7-2 on the year after opening the season with four straight wins before suffering their first loss to Embry-Riddle at the Flager Saints Classic. A day later, they would fall to Ashland in three sets to count for their only losses on the year. The Bears are coming off their first SAC match of the year, which ended in a three-set sweep of Anderson.

The Bears were selected to finish second in the SAC preseason poll. Lenoir-Rhyne returns a roster that has a combined 2006 sets of experience. That includes 2024 AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans Kayli Cleaver and Averie Dale as well as 2024 SAC All-Freshman team honoree Brooke Aeschliman.

The combination of Dale and Aeschliman has been deadly from the service line already this year, ranking first in the SAC in aces per set (2.52). The Bears have had 10 team service aces in four separate games this season. While they thrive at the service line, Lenoir-Rhyne is a do-it-all team; they are ranked top 50 in the nation in both hitting percentage (.234) and digs per set (16.74).

The Bears' attack is lead by the 6'4" senior outside Kayli Cleaver who is 5th in the SAC in kills per set (3.45) and 37th in the NCAA. Cleaver has had double-digit kills in six of L-R's nine games highlighted by a 20 kill performance at Flagler on Sept. 12. The defense is anchored by Hadley Prince who is 6th in the SAC in digs per set (4.55), however, Lenoir-Rhyne has five players that average over two digs a set.

The Eagles had their biggest win in two years on Tuesday. They met with Lee on the road for an out-of-conference match, and victory seemed unlikely for the C-N. After the first two sets, the Eagles trailed significantly in kills, hitting percentage, digs, and most statistical categories.

But all season, the theme of this C-N team has been resilience. Carson-Newman used the craftiness of the two phenomenal outsides Emerson Ahsmuhs and Annie Dziczkowsi and the dominance of Bella Cardello on the block to rally back into the game. The Eagles haven't pulled off a reverse sweep since September 1, 2023, when they fought to beat Alabama Huntsville.

Ahsmuhs came up big in the five-set dogfight and tied her career high in kills in the match with 22. She also led the way in hitting percentage as well, with a .360 clip on the night and carried the Eagles' defense with 21 digs, good for her sixth double-double of the season. Cherry dished 43 assists despite a struggling C-N offense in the first three frames and inches closer to the top five all-time in career assists. Her 10 digs give her her 33rd career double-double. Dziczkowski landed a season high 14 kills for her fifth double-digit kill game of the season, and Cardello notched another five-block performance.

Carson-Newman holds the series edge between the two teams 42-38. Inmost recent memory, the Bears visited the Eagles last season at Holt Fieldhouse on October 25, 2024, where they lost in three sets. Emerson Ahsmuhs landed 15 kills against L-R, and five different C-N players logged 10+ digs. It was graduating senior Jenna Vogen who led the way for Lenoir-Rhyne with 11 kills, but the 48 team digs from the Bears were outmatched by the Eagles 66.

In the last ten matches between the two, Carson-Newman also holds the advantage with a 6-4 record dating back to 2018. L-R's last win was at home on November 11, 2023, where the Bears swept the Eagles. Holt Fieldhouse has been a challenging place for Lenoir-Rhyne to play, sitting at 15-18 in all-time matches on the road against the natives of Mossy Creek.

Twelve of the last twenty matches between Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne have ended in three sets. The first matchup between these two teams dates back 42 years, to October 10, 1983.

Last season the Bears finished with a 25-7 (14-4 SAC) record. They battled through the SAC tournament, beating Tusculum in the first round and duking it out with the three seed Anderson in the semifinals where they would ultimately win in five sets. Finally, they ran into the brick wall that was the Wingate Bulldogs. Despite dropping the SAC Championship in three sets, the Bears qualified for their third NCAA Tournament in four seasons. In just three seasons at the helm Coach Barringer has already proven herself as one of the most successful coaches in Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball history, amassing 67 wins with a .703 winning percentage.

Coach Cat Collins has detailed multiple times how rare it is to have one good outside. The Eagles, however, have two great outsides.

"Having different attackers, especially on the outside, just because they see so many more sets and having so many different weapons is really, really cool," Collins said. "It's really special. It's one thing to have good outsides, but we have two that are really great. And that makes a huge difference."

Emerson Ahsmuhs and Annie Dsiczkowski have dominated at the pins all year. In their first four games, the two outsides had 40+ kills and 40+ digs each, and have built upon that momentum. They have hammed and egged it throughout the season.

Ahsmuhs is one of the best hitters in the country right now. Averaging nearly four and a half kills per set, the sophomore is ranked 1st in the SAC and 13th nationally. She has also been a well-rounded player for the Eagles; with 4.63 digs per set, Ahsmuhs is also 3rd in the SAC in that category. Despite being targeted 172 times on serve receive, Ahsmuhs has only made five reception errors for a .972 reception percentage. To make Eagle's fans even happier, the pin hitter is 6th in the conference in blocks (22).

Dziczkowski has been more of the same. After playing in a limited role last season, the sophomore has shouldered the starting job incredibly well. With five games in double-digit kills, Dziczkowski is 14th in the SAC standings with 2.68 kills per set. She has been one of Collin's biggest weapons from the service line, sitting 2nd in the SAC in aces (18) and 12th nationally.

"We're excited. Definitely going to be a challenging game for us, for sure. They are one of the top three teams in the conference. Nicole does a great job with her program, so excited to kind of see what our girls are going to do," said Collins.