Greeneville, Tenn. – In a match between rivals, the Tusculum Pioneers (13-7, 8-5) got the better of the Carson-Newman Eagles (9-11, 4-9) at Pioneer Arena Tuesday night 25-21, 25-23 and 25-16.

"We had an opportunity to garner a conference win tonight," head coach Shannon Mincey said. "However, our offense was not aggressive enough to start with so many unforced errors."

Tusculum never trailed in the opening frame jumping out to a 5-1 lead on an attack error by freshman middle JaLesa Beaver (Katy, Texas). Carson-Newman was able to pull within a single point after Danae Stauffer committed an error of her own, but the Pioneers snagged five of the final seven points to take the set.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Santarelli (Colorado Springs, Colo.), junior outside hitter Rachel Harper (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and sophomore middle Kiayna O'Neal (Katy, Texas) each notched three kills in set number one.

"I pulled some young players off the bench and was pleasantly surprised with their heart," Mincey said. "They remained in for the second set and played tight the entire match. The one positive was to see our younger players stepping up."

The second stanza was hotly contested that saw 17 ties and nine lead changes. Carson-Newman held the largest advantage in the set taking a 3-0 lead out of the gates. With the score knotted at 23, O'Neal and sophomore outside hitter Sara Fairley (Charlotte, N.C.) committed errors on attacks that gave the Pioneers a two set lead.

Beaver led the way with five kills on nine attempts (.556 hitting percentage). Junior setter Kristen Pickett (Cleveland, Tenn.) tallied 12 assists.

The third set started off close with four ties and two lead changes, but Tusculum reeled off nine of 11 points to take a 19-11 lead before closing out the Eagles.

The Pioneers hit .438 in the game as Carson-Newman could only muster 11 digs and zero blocks.

The Eagles hit .117 as a team with 24 attack errors. Harper and Beaver each collected nine kills while O'Neal finished with eight. Pickett notched her fifth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 11 digs.

Tusculum responded with six kills and a .188 hitting percentage. Hannah Berling and Ashley Sarmiento each racked up double-digit assist performances with 14 and 15 respectively.

After playing nine of 11 contests away from Holt Fieldhouse, the Eagles return home to play Newberry at 7 p.m. this Friday night.