CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After winning their first home match in 713 days, the Carson-Newman beach volleyball team heads to Chattanooga for their first road match of the year on Wednesday, Mar. 24.
The Mocs and Eagles were originally scheduled to meet on Mar. 16 in the Scenic City, but mother nature had other ideas as the courts were deemed unplayable due to the amount of rain in the area.
The first match starts at 5:00 PM, with the second match starting immediately after.
The Eagles are off to a 2-0 start for the second straight season after defeating Erskine 3-2 and recording their first-ever victory over rival Tusculum in a shortened match 3-1 on Saturday, Mar. 13.
"I am proud of the way our team competed this weekend," says head coach Cat Lind. "We had a great mentality and were focused on controling the things that we could control. We learned a lot about ourselves and I am looking forward to seeing that carry over for us on Tuesday."
The top three pairs for the Eagles helped carry the team to both victories on Saturday, as the no. three group of Lindsey Geurinand Mia Toribio and the no. two group of Abby Streuwing and Sierra Still sit at 2-0. Still and Streuwing recorded the game-winner for both matches, knocking off Erskine 15-21, 21-19, and then closing out the Fleet in a dominating 15-7 third set win. Streuwing and Still won a single set against Tusculum 25-23 to clinch the weekend sweep for Carson-Newman.
The no. one pair of Summer Coulter and Megan Oldenburger ended the weekend 1-0 after a dominating sweep against Erskine, winning 21-17 and 21-9.
Alanis Mendez and Lauren Williams sit at 1-1 after playing six total sets on Saturday. The duo dropped a three-set thriller to the Fleet but gave the Eagles the early advantage against Tusculum, knocking off the Pioneers 21-18, 18-21 and 15-11.
The pairing of Alyssa Johnson and Piper Halcrow recorded an exhibition victory over Erskine before falling in three sets against Tusculum.
Joy Rhodes and Morgan Siwiec are the only current pairing for the Eagles to record a win this year. The two fell to Erskine 12-21, 23-21 and 9-15 in the final set before falling to Tusculum in the evening in straight sets 21-19 and 21-19.
The Chattanooga Mocs are in just their second season of play. The Mocs went 0-3 last year before the season was postponed and sit at 0-5 after dropping two matches to North Alabama.
The Mocs are coached by Darin Van Horn in his second season. Van Horn is also an assistant for the indoor program at Chattanooga, helping lead the squad to a SoCon Title in 2015.
Chattanooga won their first ever game against North Alabama on Mar. 19. Baylee Young and Jordan Krege swept both of their games at the no. 1 position as the Lions knocked off the Mocs 4-1 in both matches. This is the first meeting ever between the two squads and the first-ever home match for Chattanooga.
Carson-Newman is just 5-32 against NCAA Division One schools all time, but is 2-2 in their last four matches against higher ranked schools, recorded two wins over Eastern Kentucky. The Eagles lost to the Colonels and Georgia State in their last matchup against two Division One schools on April 13, 2019 at a tournament at Austin Peay.
"I am excited to see how our team responds this week to an even higher level of competition," says Lind.
The Eagles will stay on the road this weekend as they head to the Palmetto State to take on Coastal Carolina in a doubleheader on Mar. 28. The first match is set to start at 10:00 AM in Conway.
