November 20, 2025

Four Eagles headline South Atlantic All-Conference Volleyball teams

Based on the combination of individual performances and coaches' votes, Emerson Ahmuhs and Maddie Hurst earn first team honors, Blair Cherry picks up second team accolades, and Annie Dziczkowski collects third team recognition.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Based on the combination of individual performances and coaches' votes, Emerson Ahmuhs and Maddie Hurst earn first team honors, Blair Cherry picks up second team accolades, and Annie Dziczkowski collects third team recognition.

The South Atlantic Conference has announced the selections to the 2025 All-Conference Volleyball teams. After the votes of coaches and sports information directors from around the league, the Eagles were honored with four selections to the end-of-year awards.

C-N hasn't had more than four honorees on the list since the 2022 season and hasn't had multiple first team selections since 2015.

Emerson Ahsmuhs and Maddie Hurst both collected first-team recognition. This is the second time in their two seasons at Carson-Newman that they have achieved postseason recognition. Ahsmuhs made the jump from the second to the first team this season, while Hurst held her ground as the reigning freshman of the year. This is Hurst's second first-team recognition.

Ahsmuhs was a player of the year candidate this season, making significant strides on both offense and defense. As a six rotation hitter for the Eagles, Ahsmuhs leads all conference opponents with 386 total kills and averages a league high 4.02 kills per set. Her total kill mark leads all other players by a margin of 80. She has consistently been in the top 25 of Division II in kills per set, and currently ranks 21^st nationally in that category. Her offense has been relentless, landing 10 or more kills in 20 of the matches she's played this season. She also does it efficiently. Her .264 kitting percentage is 13^th in the SAC.

What's more, Ahsmuhs has continually been an asset on defense. She is 2^nd on the team and 10^th in the SAC in digs per set (3.82). Eighteen times this season, she has been in double digits in the dig department. For her efforts, she has been rewarded with a team leading 13 double-doubles. She is the only player in the SAC with 300 kills and 300 digs and one of seven players in the nation to hit that mark. She has been honored twice this season by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association as player of the week as well as the SAC WePlayed Offensive Player of the Week. Ahsmuhs will most likely hit the 700 career kill mark later this season in the playoffs.

Hurst was named to the first team as well after a mid-season surge that has propelled Carson-Newman through the end of the year. She has recorded 13 games this season with double-digit kills and has strung together 13 games in a row with nine or more kills down the most important stretch of the season. She ranks 6^th in the SAC in kills per set with 3.06, but what makes her dangerous is her accuracy. Hurst has led the Eagles in hitting percentage 10 times this season, and is hitting .343. She is 5^th in the SAC in attacking percentage and ranks 58^th in DII.

The sophomore has pushed the boundaries of Carson-Newman volleyball this season, breaking multiple single game hitting percentage records. She aided Carson-Newman in hitting an astounding .616 against Tusculum to set a single-game record for attacking percentage in the history of Carson-Newman volleyball as a team. In the same match, she notched the third-highest single-game hitting percentage in C-N volleyball history (.636) and set her season high in kills. Just a few weeks later, she hit .652 against LMU and then hit a school record single game match high .677. She made just one error on 31 swings. The previous record was set earlier in the season by Dziczkowski.

Blair Cherry got her second All-SAC honor and earned a spot on the second team for the second year in a row. Cherry has navigated the Carson-Newman offense to success al season and has worked incredibly hard to gain connections with her hitters. Her 1,019 total assists this season are first in the SAC and 28^th in DII. This is her second season in a row that the junior has hit the 1,000 assist mark, and the 16^th time in history that a Carson-Newman Eagles has tallied that many in a single season. She also grabbed a career milestone this year against Lincoln Memorial. With her 10^th assist in the contest, Cherry officially moved into the 5^th spot in career assists in Carson-Newman volleyball history. She is one of six C-N players to dish 2,500 assists over her career. She also is 18^th among all active DII setters in career assists.

She has chipped in defensively, adding 237 digs, 33 blocks, and has grabbed 10 double-doubles this season. She also ranks second on the team with 31 service aces.

Annie Dziczkowski is the final honoree for C-N. Dziczkowski has had a breakout season this year and picked up third-team recognition for her efforts. The sophomore outside was explosive at the start of the year, grabbing All-Tournament honors at the Glenville State Tournament. Her success continued throughout the year, and she has been a key arm in this C-N attack. Dziczkowski ranks 12^th in the SAC in kills per set with 2.84 and has grabbed double-digit kills in 13 games this season.

Aside from her prowess at the net, Dziczkowski has been a menace from the service line. Her 40 service aces lead C-N and ranks 3^rd in the SAC. She averages .45 service aces per set, which is also third in the conference, and the sophomore has 11 games this season with multiple service aces. She landed a season high six against West Virginia Wesleyan and has notched at least one ace in 17 games this year.

The four all-conference honorees will have the chance to prove themselves in the conference tournament on Friday against #15 Wingate before taking on the regional tournament in the beginning of December. All-region honorees will come out around that time.

First Team

Emerson Ahsmuhs, Carson-Newman

Kayli Cleaver, Lenoir-Rhyne

Maddie Hoffman, Wingate (L)

Maddie Hurst, Carson-Newman

Emily Johnson, Wingate

Sydney Morland, Wingate

Ellie Nieporte, Anderson

Maya Van Heyst, Wingate

Second Team

Emmaleigh Allen, Lenoir-Rhyne

Emily Campbell, Anderson