November 8, 2025

Defense shows out for volleyball in four-set win over Mars Hill

The C-N defense held the lines, limiting the Mars Hill attack to 45 kills and a .105 hitting percentage

Carson-Newman

21-4,12-4 SAC

Mars Hill

10-12,6-10 SAC

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Carson-Newman 21-4,12-4 SAC	25	24	25	25	3
Mars Hill 10-12,6-10 SAC	12	26	18	16	1

MARS HILL, N.C. - The C-N defense held the lines, limiting the Mars Hill attack to 45 kills and a .105 hitting percentage

Carson-Newman took down Mars Hill in four sets Saturday evening to move to 21-4 and 12-4 in SAC play. This was the final road match for Carson-Newman and the Eagles wrap up an incredible away slate that includes just two losses; to the #19 Wingate Bulldogs and teh 2nd place team in the SAC: Anderson.

It was a full defensive effort from the Eagles, who logged a season high 97 team digs. The last time Carson-Newman volleyball was in the 90's in digs was a year and two days ago in Holt Fieldhouse against Mars Hill.

"We played a great game tonight. We did a good job bouncing back quickly from errors tonight. We showed great resilience and effort on defense," said Cat Collins following the win.

In set one, Carson-Newman got on top early, notching a 4-0 lead out of the gate that triggered a Mars Hill timeout. The Lions, however, wouldn't go away easy, battling back to an 8-7 score. That's when Emerson Ahsmuhs started cruising, snagging four kills and an ace to put C-N up 13-8. Attack errors killed the Lions in the first set. After grabbing two kills in a row, Mars Hill would notch their fifth error on 31 attacks so C-N could go up 17-10. Out of a second timeout from Mars Hill, the Eagles put their foot on the Lions throats. Annie Dziczkowski out down five kills while Maddie Hurst grabbed two to end the set 25-12. With 21 digs, four different Eagles grabbed 4+ digs against the second best defensive team in the conference. C-N limited the Lions to just 7 kills in the first set.

Set two was closer out of the gate. The Eagles and Lions were tied 3-3 before Mars Hill used a short run by Selma Vassdal at the service line to jump ahead 6-3. Both teams exchanged blows, until the very end of the set 22-21 with the Eagles in the lead. Dziczkowski would put a ball away to extend the lead to two when Mars Hill would take a timeout and retaliate successfully using kills from Vassdal and Keira Links to tie it at 23 and C-N would take a timeout of their own. At this point, both Ahsmuhs and Dziczkowski were owning the net, with 10 kills a piece. A kill and a service ace from the Lions would earn them the set 26-24.

The Eagles weren't keen to lose another set though, grabbing a 16-10 lead midway through. Carson-Newman's defense continued to hold strong, with three different Eagles in double-digit digs midway through the third set and limiting the Lions to under .100 hitting percentage. Mars Hill wouldn't go away easy though, crawling back to pull within four, but C-N would close the door from there, forcing the Lions into five errors. The Eagles won set three 25-18 and held the lead 2-1.

The beautiful defense from the Eagles continued early into set four. Trinity Hafey saved a magnificent shot and Hurst put it away for a 6-4 lead. Bella Cardello stepped in and notched a few kills to help the Eagles pull ahead 12-9, while also adding some helpful block touches against the Mars Hill attack. Despite a timeout from Mars Hill, the Eagles would continue to pressure the Lions with challenging serving and a sturdy block for an 18-11 lead. After another Mars Hill timeout, C-N wouldn't let up, grabbing a 25-16 set victory to earn the win in four.

Emerson Ahsmuhs logged the double-double in the match with a team high 18 kills and 22 digs. She was one of three Eagles who notched 20 or more digs on the night for her 13th double-double of 2025.

Trinity Hafey was the Eagles leader in digs with 24. The junior captain's season high in digs comes against a Mars Hill team that she had racked up 21 digs on in the previous meeting earlier in the season for 45 digs across the two matches.

Raychel Ehlers matched Ahsmuhs with 22 digs to her name for her career high and bests her previous record by 9 digs. She tacked on 9 kills to hep C-N pick up the win. Blair Cherry, Dziczkowski, and Clair Bolton each had 9 digs a piece to round out the defensive effort from Carson-Newman.

"There were a lot of long rallies and hard earned points," said Collins. "Proud of our defensive efforts and the way the team played as a whole."

Hurst and Dziczkowski were in double-digits in terms of kills with Hurst collecting 10 while Dziczkowski recorded 11. Dziczkowski also led the floor with three service aces and matched Hurst's three blocks to combine for five as a team.

This is the Eagles' third win in a row and sends them barreling into a two game homestand to wrap up the regular season with UVA-Wise and Newberry before the SAC playoffs begin on November 18th. Carson-Newman is five games up on UVA-Wise for 4th place and 6 games up on Newberry who sits in a tie for 6th in the SAC standings.