JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – To begin the month of November, the Carson-Newman Eagles (22-5, 15-3 South Atlantic Conference) play host to the Tusculum Pioneers (11-13, 8-10 SAC) Tuesday night at Holt Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. first serve.
Carson-Newman coach Dan Ahiers has a chance to become the fourth coach in South Atlantic Conference history to win 50 matches in his first two season Tuesday night entering with an overall record of 49-12.
Presbyetrian's Beth Couture went 58-16 in 1989-90, Ed Allen went 62-13 in 2003-04 and Gardner Webb's Angell Benson went 58-18 in 1996-97. Each of those three coaches won at least one SAC Championship, regular season or tournament title.
Carson-Newman is looking for its first four-match winning streak against Tusculum since the Eagles won nine-in-a-row from 2001-2005.
Tusculum leads the all-time series 28-24 but the Eagles have won three straight meetings between the two programs. In the first contest this year Carson-Newman held Tusculum to a .096 attack percentage in a sweep.
In a sweep of Tusculum on October 6, the Eagles recorded 71 digs. It was the most digs in a three-set match since September 27, 2013 at Wingate when the Eagles had 75 scoops.
Sophomore setter Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) notched her third straight double-double finishing with 40 assists and 15 digs.
Fairley tallied her fifth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 12 digs.
Senior outside hitter Molly Locke (College Grove, Tenn.) finished with 17 kills and nine digs while junior libero Taylor Lowe (Franklin, Tenn.) racked up 21 digs.
The Pioneers enter Tuesday's contest after dropping a five-set match at home versus Catawba Friday night and a four-set effort against Queens.
Tusculum is ranked fifth in the nation this season in digs per set scooping 19.59 per set this year. Freshman Melissa Mazur leads the nation this year in digs per set with 7.06 per frame on the year and is second nationally with 579 total digs. As a unit, the Pioneers have eclipsed the 100-dig mark on three occasions including a 126-dig night at Lander on October 9, the 10th-most in a match this season at Division II.
Conversely, the Tusculum block has been nearly nonexistent ranking 246th out of 282 Division II programs in total blocks with 105 rejections and 254th with 1.28 blocks per set.
Setter Hannah Berling is third in the league in assists per set with 10 and second in total assists having tallied 910 so far. The senior has 15 double-doubles in 2015 including one in each of the last four outings.
The Pioneers have just one player in the top-15 in the league in kills per set, junior Rachel Garnett. The rightside is 10th with 2.77 on the year and has been in double figures in four consecutive contests.
Tuesday's match will be broadcast on cneagles.com/live courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network with Eric Cain handling the play-by-play duties for the video stream.
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