Jefferson City, Tenn.— For the second time this season, the Carson-Newman beach volleyball team will head to the campus of South Carolina as the Eagles will take part in the four-team Palmetto Invitational beginning Saturday morning in Columbia, S.C.
Carson-Newman (7-8) is coming off a sweep of duels play against Lincoln Memorial in its first-ever home match in program history. The Eagles took down the 'Splitters 5-0 and 4-1 on April 9.
C-N will be looking to turn around its luck this go around in South Carolina as the Eagles lost all four matches to Division I powers Jacksonville, Alabama Birmingham, Texas Christian and South Carolina on the weekend of March 26 and 27 at the Gamecock Invitational.
North Carolina Wilmington (8-13) will be up first as they tend to clash with Carson-Newman Saturday morning at 9 a.m. UNCW has lost its last two outings of the season in losing to No. 3 Florida State 5-0 and TCU 4-1 on April 10. Coached by Amy Bambenek, who is assisted by David Fischer, UNCW is competing in in its first year of beach volleyball.
Their roster is comprised of three seniors, four juniors, one sophomore and nine freshman. Bella Borgiotti and Katie McCullough lead the way with an 8-13 record keeping in as the squad's first doubles pairing. Nichole Lott and Kristen Powell have compiled a 7-14 record at No. 2 and Ashleigh Crutcher and Maddie Kline have tallied nine wins in the third-slot of the lineup.
Competition will then resume at 2:00 p.m. Friday afternoon with a dual against No. 11 LSU (11-6). Competing in its third season of the beach program, the Tigers compiled a 6-10 and 14-9 in their first two seasons from 2014-2015.
LSU has lost its last two outings of the season with a 3-2 loss to Arizona and a 4-1 loss to Georgia State on April 9. Coached by Fran Flory, the Tigers are comprised of six seniors, one junior, five sophomores and five freshmen.
The No. 2 duo of Helen Boyle and Lilly Kessler lead the way with 11 wins on the season while Callan Molle and Cati Leak have tallied six wins against top-20 teams in the nation at No. 3.
Sunday's action will then kick off at 9:00 a.m. as Carson-Newman will go up against Coastal Carolina (2-6). The Chenticleers lost its last match against UNCW on April 2, 3-2 and are in the process of completing their first year of beach volleyball. Coached by Jozsef Forman, Coastal Carolina fields only one senior and two juniors as upperclassmen, but also sport four sophomores and six true freshmen on the roster.
The Palmetto Invitational will then conclude with the eagles taking on the hosting school, South Carolina (15-12) Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The Gamecocks are coming off a 3-2 win over Florida Atlantic on April 10 and had the upper hand over the Eagles, 5-0, the last time the two squads faced off on March 27.
Coached by Moritz Moritz, the Gamecocks boast 20 players on the 2016 roster which includes seven true freshman. Macie Tendrich and Katie Reilly have led the way thus far for South Carolina with a 17-5 record at No. 3. Sarah Blomgen and Aubrey Ezell have tallied 15 wins as the team's No. 2 paring and Julia Mannisto and Shannon Williams have recorded 11 wins playing atop of the Gamecock lineup.
A complete recap following each day of events can be found on cneagles.com at the conclusion of dual No. 2.
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