No. 19 Wingate uses strong defense and stellar service to sweep Carson-Newman
The Eagles struggled to the tune of a season-low hitting percentage and fell inside Cuddy Arena for the ninth straight time.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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15 | 12 | 20 | 0 |
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25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman saw its six-match winning streak snapped at the hands of No. 19 Wingate in a sweep on Friday night. The Eagles were held to a season-low .051 hitting percentage, and surrendered a season-high 12 service aces, tied for the most this season by the Bulldogs.
"Definitely was more of a mental game, more than anything, had a lot of unforced errors, and at the end of the day, just was not mentally prepared," Head coach Cat Collins said. "Obviously, they're a good team, but we have just as much talent, but mentally couldn't bounce back from errors today."
The Eagles opened the scoring with back-to-back kills from star middle blocker Maddie Hurst before the Bulldogs tied it up. The two sides exchanged points until Carson-Newman ripped off a 3-0 run highlighted by an Addie Smith service ace to make it 7-4 in the early going. Wingate would surge to even it at eight after a pair of kills from Emily Johnson, along with one from both Abby Mas and Rylee Tanner.
In the middle portion of the first set, it was back-and-forth but also saw the hosts take their first lead of the night, 12-11, on a kill from Sydney Morland. After the Eagles rallied to tie it up at 13, the Bulldogs charged forward on a 3-0 run, prompting a timeout from C-N, 16-13.
Out of the timeout, Wingate picked up right where it left off, stretching its advantage to 21-13, an 8-0 run. A service error momentarily halted the run, but the remainder of the set belonged to the Bulldogs, taking the opening set, 25-15, and ending the frame on a 12-2 run.
Set number two followed an eerily similar tune to the start of the first. Carson-Newman jumped ahead, claiming the first two points on a kill from Hurst and an ace from Trinity Hafey. Wingate would even it at three, then Cat Collins' squad jumped ahead 7-5, headlined by kills from Emerson Ahsmuhs and Hurst. Once again, the Bulldogs swung all momentum in their favor, erupting on another 8-0 run, prompting a C-N timeout, 13-7.
Much like in the first set, Wingate marched forward after the break, jumping ahead 17-7. The 12-0 surge was cemented behind five service aces from Maddie Hoffman. After an attack error from the Bulldogs, the two teams exchanged points. The Bulldogs took firm control of the match, ending the second set on a 4-1 run, and winning it 25-12. Wingate notched eight service aces in the frame alone, pushing its total on the night to 10.
Collins and company switched things up to begin the third frame, as Emmaline Morris and Addie Smith slid into the front row for Carson-Newman and Raychel Ehlers was subbed in at libero. However, it was Wingate charging ahead in the opening moments of the third set, leading 6-1, before an Eagles timeout. The Bulldogs continued to rattle off points, stretching their margin to as many as 12, 16-4.
Carson-Newman showed resilience, cutting the lead to six, 19-13, leading to a Wingate timeout. Amid a 9-3 run, Blair Cherry reached a career milestone as well. The junior setter notched her 2500th career assist on a kill from Morris. The Eagles had brought more fight, bringing the deficit to as low as four, but as they had done all night, the Bulldogs found another gear and pushed past 25-20 to pick up the sweep.
"We can really only learn mental strength from playing teams like that," Collins said. "So just trying to use that as a way to help us build and learn, as we get into postseason, we're going to have to be able to bounce back."
Carson-Newman totaled 26 kills with a .051 hitting percentage. Offensively, Hurst led the way with nine kills, as Ahsmuhs racked up a team-high 11 digs. Meanwhile, Maya Van Heyst orchestrated the Wingate offense to 39 kills on a .269 clip with 30 assists. Maddie Hoffman had the hot hand from the service line with a career-best seven aces, and Emily Johnson paced the Bulldogs offensively with nine kills.
"As a staff, we know we can beat them, and we have had a good game plan to beat them, it didn't look like it worked, but it does work, and it worked in a lot of moments," Collins said. "Just cleaning up our unforced errors, and it would look like a completely different game if we did that."
The Eagles have a quick turnaround on the horizon as they face a Catawba squad they saw a week ago in Holt Fieldhouse. In their first meeting, C-N took the first set dominantly, but had to battle back to take the last two sets and pick up a 5-set win.
"We talked about this a lot just now, just focusing on the response that we can have, you know, that's an individual choice that each of them has to make," Collins said. "So they're going to take time tonight, reflect individually and figure out how they're going to bounce back so that tomorrow looks a lot different."
Carson-Newman gets back on the hardwood tomorrow, November 1, at Catawba, with first serve slated for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
#19 Wingate
| Game Statistics | Carson-Newman | #19 Wingate |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .051 | .269 |
| Blocks | 5.0 | 7.0 |
| Digs | 45 | 45 |
| Aces | 2 | 12 |
