Eagles throttle Cobras for 12th sweep of the year

Eagles throttle Cobras for 12th sweep of the year

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – A dominant and efficient attack helped pave the way for the Carson-Newman Eagles (21-5, 16-2 South Atlantic Conference) to sweep the Coker Cobras (4-21, 1-17 SAC) 25-16, 25-17 and 25-16 Friday night at the DeLoach Center.

The Eagles racked up an impressive .347 attack percentage as five players tallied at least five kills.

"I was glad to see that giving the girls three days off this week wouldn't affect our play too much," head coach Dan Ahiers said after the match. "We definitely got stronger as the match went along."

Carson-Newman took a 7-3 lead to start the initial stanza to grab control of the set. A kill by senior outside hitter Lauren Santarelli (Colorado Springs, Colo.) sealed a 1-0 lead in a set where the Eagles never trailed. Junior middle blocker Kiayna O'Neal (Katy, Texas) paced the visiting group with six kills on a .667 attack percentage.

The Eagles hit .577 in the second frame with 16 kills on just one attack error. Ahiers' group won 10 of the first 12 rallies to gain a separation they would never see shrink to fewer than three points. Senior middle blocker Jenna Wilson (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) led the way with five kills on seven attacks.

The visiting group absolutely dominated the third set winning 15 of the first 17 points before putting in some substitutes which allowed Coker to claw back into the set but Wilson put the match on ice with her 12th kill.

Wilson's 12 kills were a match high as she hit .667 while O'Neal went spike-for-spike with her teammate with 11 kills on a .556 attack percentage to go along with five digs and six block assists which matched a season-high.

Senior setter Kristen Pickett (Cleveland, Tenn.) aided the strong offensive performance with 32 assists and eight digs.

Brooke Closset led Coker with nine kills as the Eagles held its 19th opponent of the year to under a .200 attack percentage with the Cobras .095 hitting percentage.

Carson-Newman is back in action Saturday at 2:00 p.m. when it travels to Wingate to take on a Bulldog team that is riding a 55-match conference winning streak. 

- CN -