Seventh SAC win for Eagles volleyball comes in sweep over Mars Hill on Dig Pink night
Emerson Ahsmuhs and Maddie Hurst dominated the front lines, combining for 31 kills to seal the victory.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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14 | 21 | 18 | 0 |
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25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
VIDEO: Cat Collins Postgame Interview
VIDEO: Emerson Ahsmuhs Postgame Interview
VIDEO: Trinity Hafey Postgame Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Emerson Ahsmuhs and Maddie Hurst dominated the front lines, combining for 31 kills to seal the victory.
"Our culture has really grown a lot this year and it's just kind of at the forefront of all we've been doing," said Coach Cat Collins following the win. "They are just doing a great job at bouncing back, not freaking out when we do things wrong and just continuing to have great effort and great chemistry."
After Mars Hill ended the Eagles' season last year, Carson-Newman put on a performance that showed the Lions what they were made of. It was an effort on all fronts, but the defense shone, holding the Lions down to a .147 hitting percentage where no hitter was able to surpass ten kills. Maddie Hurst and Emerson Ahsmuhs' 31 combined kills matched the total team kills the Lions were able to produce.
"Honestly, last year I was really nervous because it was my freshman year. But this year just looking at my teammates and just having fun has helped," said Ahsmuhs following the game. "Honestly, that's what I'm doing good right now. And also just my faith in God, knowing that I'm playing for him and growing that relationship with everyone."
This marks the Eagles fourth win in a row and moves them to 16-3 overall and 7-3 in the SAC where they are 4th in the standings behind Lenoir-Rhyne.
"We really didn't have many errors and those that we did, we didn't really let it snowball or affect us very much, which we've been working on," said junior captain Trinity Hafey following the win. "It's a great chemistry thing. So I'm really proud of us for that and staying very consistent."
In set one, it looked like it was going to be a close game. The Eagles were tied with Mars Hill 11-11 before the Eagles put their foot on the gas. Madde Hurst and Emerson Ahsmuhs got to work in back-to-back four-point runs, benefiting from two attack errors from the Lions. Down 18-12, Mars Hill would take a timeout, but it wouldn't phase C-N, who rode the hot hand of Cherry from the service line with an ace and a kill from Cardello. The set would end in a dominant 25-14 victory following a service error from the Lions. The Eagles hit an astounding .438 in set one, with Hurst and Ahsmuhs combining for 11 of the 17 kills in the first set.
Set two was a heavy defensive effort on both sides, but Carson-Newman jumped out in front early, using three different arms to take a 3-0 lead and capitalized on four errors from Mars Hill to go up 9-2. The Lions would crawl back into the game, though, after the Eagles struggled to find a rhythm with a few errors of their own. The Lions had a hard time finding an answer for Ahsmuhs who put five kills away, and Trinity Hafey firmed up the back row to eliminate the impact of the errors mad by the Eagles with 12 digs in the second frame. She helped limit Mars Hill to a .163 hitting percentage in the set to grab a 25-21 set two win.
Up two sets, the Eagles had a hard time in the early goings of set three. They were down 10-5 following kills from the Lions' best hitter, Ioana Poenaru, before taking a timeout. Slowly but surely, Carson-Newman would close the gap, using two service errors from Mars Hill to sideout and respond with kills from Ahsmuhs, Hurst, and Raychel Ehlers. Eventually, Annie Dziczkowski took the lead 16-15 with a kill and sent herself to the line where Ahsmuhs could put two more away. Finally, a service ace from Blair Cherry and two attacking errors from Mars Hill would end set three 25-18 and give the Eagles the sweep.
Ahsmuhs was the leader on the floor with 20 kills for the night and lands 2nd all-time in kills in a three-set match. The only Eagle to do better was Molly Locke's 21 kill performance against Newberry on October 2, 2015. This is Ahsmuhs' fourth game in a row with 10 or more kills. With 16 digs to go along with her great night at the net, the sophomore logged her 9th double-double of the season.
"I know I've been working at practice with connections with Blair and having some of the other girls just take over for me when I'm doing a lot on the court. So just trusting them and knowing that they have my back," said Ahsmuhs.
Maddie Hurst was also outstanding with 11 kills. That marks the fourth game straight that Hurst has hit double digits in the kill category. Ehlers was the next best with six kills and six digs.
These Eagle hitters were set by Blair Cherry, who grabbed all but three assists in the 45 recorded. Cherry also led the floor in service aces with three.
"It takes a lot of pressure off my back because if I know that her sets are there every single time," said Ahsmuhs. "I don't have to worry about backing off the net or if it's too tight. She has my back, I have her back. Every single time she gives me a good set."
Trinity Hafey was the dig leader on the floor with 21. This is the junior captain's second 20+ dig game of the season. She led 58 58-dig effort from the Eagles that outplayed Mars Hill, who has the 15th-best dig mark in the NCAA.
"The block does their job so we can set up around them. It's so much easier when everyone else does their job and we know that they know that like I got their backs because so they can do theirs," said Hafey following the game.
Eagles' volleyball won this game on Dig Pink night, honoring those who have fought and are still fighting breast cancer.
"We're very much a family and obviously being October, there's so many people in our community and within our team and all these people that we know that struggle with that journey and so it's just fun to be able to represent them and just play well on a fun night," said Collins.
Carson-Newman will continue to enjoy its home gymnasium on Friday evening when they welcome Catawba to town. This will be the first match this season against the Catawba College Catawba Indians, and the Eagles will travel to Salisbury later this season.
"They're a great defensive team. And so we're going to have long rallies and long points and just making sure that we're not too caught up in not scoring the first time and just really putting the work in throughout the whole game so we can get points in the end," said Collins.
"We just have to make sure we don't overlook them, keep doing our job, take practice and scout very seriously and execute the game plan like tonight," said Hafey.
Eagles volleyball starts at 7:00 PM against Catawba on Friday, October 24th.
Team Stats
Mars Hill
| Game Statistics | Mars Hill | Carson-Newman |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .147 | .283 |
| Blocks | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Digs | 44 | 58 |
| Aces | 2 | 4 |
