Eagles fall to Armstrong in Five Sets

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Eagles (0-2) volleyball team fell in five sets against Armstrong Atlantic (6-0) at Holt Fieldhouse in the Carson-Newman Classic on Saturday morning.

The two teams split the first four sets: 15-25, 26-24, 10-25, and 25-15 before Armstrong won the decisive fifth set 15-7.

"Armstrong is a very strong team," said Carson-Newman head coach Shannon Mincey. "This match was unfortunately a loss for us but will help us in our conference play."

This is the second straight day the Eagles have lost a five-set match, falling yesterday to Francis Marion in five sets in the season opener.

"That's hard mentally for the girls," said Mincey. "Our team is young still, we rely on a lot of sophomores to terminate balls. This is certainly a learning experience for us and I hope we remember this in the next SAC match."

Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Harper (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the Eagles with 17 kills in the match. Also notching double-digit kills for the second consecutive match was sophomore outside hitter Lauren Santarelli (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

"Rachel came alive today," said Mincey. "She hit hard, I couldn't have expected anything more from her today."

For Armstrong, five players had double-digit kills, led by Carina Marinho's 16-kill effort. The Eagles were led in assists by sophomore setter Kristen Pickett's 30 in the match.

Carson-Newman's next match will be Friday Sept. 14 against Palm Beach Atlantic in the Eagle Invitational at Holt Fieldhouse. The match will begin at 4 p.m.