Carson-Newman Volleyball Match Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking to bounce back, Carson-Newman hosts its third home match of 2016 Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. inside of Holt Fieldhouse when in-state foe Tusculum makes the short trek up from Greeneville for a South Atlantic Conference competition.
Carson-Newman (1-9, 1-5) enters Tuesday riding a five-match losing streak, its longest since losing five straight from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, 2013. The last time C-N lost six or more in-a-row was an eight-match skid from Sept. 20 to Oct. 16, 1999. In 1999, the team finished the year 12-23 and won five league matches.
The tribulations of 1999 led to a SAC Tournament Championship in 2000 and a regular season title and Tournament title in 2002.
The Eagles have hit above .200 just one time this season coming in their lone victory on Sept. 9 versus Mars Hill while the unit has hit below .100 on two occasions.
Carson-Newman has won four straight meetings against Tusculum (6-4, 3-3) to pull within three games in the all-time series trailing 25-28. The last win for the Pioneers came on Oct. 22, 2013 when TC swept C-N in Greeneville, Tenn. to capture the season series.
The current four-game winning streak is the second longest against Tusculum with the previous high being a 10-match stretch from 2001 to the start of the 2005 season.
In the most recent meeting, the Eagles collected five solo blocks while holding the Pioneers to a .083 attack percentage. Natalie Harris notched 10 kills and a .391 hitting clip to go along with three solo blocks and a total of 4.5 rejections.
Tusculum was led by Sarah Bouley's 12 kills and 12 digs while Hannah Berling dished out 24 assists and collected 16 scoops.
The Pioneers have played their last five matches at home going 3-2 over that span including a sweep of Catawba in their last match.
Tusculum is fourth in the league in digs per set averaging 17.15 per frame but ranks 10th in the SAC in blocks per set at 1.36.
For the second straight season the SAC's leader in digs is Melissa Mazur, a preseason first-team all-conference pick. The sophomore has a league-best 5.44 digs per set, 14th in the nation, with 212 total scoops on the year.
Sophomore outside hitter Cassie Born has six double-digit kills matches this season and four double-doubles including in each of the last two matches.
The contest will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network beginning five minutes prior to first serve with a high definition stream available on cneagles.com/live free of charge.
