GREENWOOD, S.C. – Carson-Newman earned its fifth sweep of 2017 to begin the South Atlantic Conference/Peach Belt Conference Crossover at Horne Arena defeating Lander 25-22, 27-22 and 25-21 Friday afternoon.
Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) notched a double-double with 18 assists and 10 digs. Her career tally for helpers sits at 2,559 to put the senior in sole possession of third place on the school's all-time assists list passing Stephanie Cutter's mark of 2,548.
Six of the last eight meetings have favored the Eagles as Carson-Newman (8-8) is now 4-0 all-time on Lander's (9-6) home floor.
Offensively Emily Harnischfeger (Macedon, N.Y.) matched a career high with 13 kills on a .233 attack percentage while picking up nine digs. Kendall Cooley (Castle Rock, Colo.) tallied a career-high seven smashes.
Elena Vasquez (Riverside, Calif.) joined Patton with a double-double racking up a career-high 16 assists while matching a high mark with 12 scoops.
Hannah Robertson (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) notched a career-high 21 digs to lead her team as Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) added 17.
In the first set, Lander won the first three points and held the lead through the early moments. Trailing 8-5, C-N ripped off 10 of the next 12 to go on top 15-10. It was an edge that the Eagles never relinquished as Harnischfeger's fifth kill of the game put her club ahead 1-0 in the match.
The Eagles won the first five points of the second stanza courtesy of three attack errors by their opposition. Down 7-4, Lander rattled off eight unanswered points to take 12-7 lead. Carson-Newman's deficit reached six points at 22-16 when the comeback began. The Eagles won 11 of the final 14 rallies as Lander's eighth attack error of the set sealed a 27-25 set two win.
13 ties and six lead changes highlighted the third game as the two programs combined for 20 attack errors. The visiting group had a four-point lead at 23-19 only to see the Bearcats fend off a match point and tie the match at 24. C-N was able to win the outing on a kill from Harnischfeger and a solo block from Katie Parnell (Atlanta, Ga.), one of four for the freshman on the day.
Overall, the Eagles were credited with six solo blocks in the match registering a .142 hitting percentage while the Bearcats had four total rejections and hit .084.
Kristin Martindale led Lander's attack with 11 kills to go along with 14 digs as Reyonia Whipple racked up nine kills from the middle.
Hannah McManus led all players with 30 digs in the match. Sophia Perkins posted 18 assists and 14 digs while Nell Copeland added 12 assists and 14 digs.
Match two of four for the weekend is slated to start at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon against Georgia College as the two programs meet for just the second time.
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