VIDEO: Dave Franklin Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Coming off of a four-set loss at Mars Hill, Carson-Newman aims to get back on track this weekend with South Atlantic Conference road affairs against Anderson Friday night at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at Newberry at 2 p.m.
"In 30 matches you are going to have adversity," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "You are going to have to overcome that. Like a quarterback, you are going to have to have a very short memory. We recovered a little bit. We looked in the mirror, looked at the match and some things that were under our control that fatigue may have played a little part of it. It has to be us owning it. I felt like our girls do a really good job of that."
Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) enters the weekend with 1,079 career kills needing just seven more to pass Amber Lester (1994-96) to move into 11th on the program's all-time ledger.
Keeping an eye on the record books, Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) has 1,742 in a C-N uniform with a chance to move into sixth needing 43 to pass Kendra Rickertsen's 1,784 from her career in 1999-02.
Friday evening's match is the 26th all-time matchup with Anderson (4-2, 2-1) with the Trojans winning 13. Carson-Newman (4-2, 2-1) has won two of the last three meetings but has dropped each of its last three trips to the Palmetto State. The last triumph came in the SAC Tournament on Nov. 20, 2015 with C-N prevailing in five sets.
After falling in four frames on the road, Franklin's crew bounced back by sweeping the Trojans at Mossy Creek on Oct. 12. Anderson had 17 of 18 matches but the Eagles limited it to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season with a .065 hitting clip. Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) was the only player in double figures with 11 kills.
Anderson picked up a pair of first-place votes in the preseason poll and are led by honorable mention All-American Emily Conlin who led the conference in assists per set last season. The Trojans were upended in the SAC semifinals by LMU before losing in the regional semis to Wingate.
Coach Todd Hay's crew has the nation's fourth-longest winning streak in the nation having won 28 in-a-row since being swept by Newberry on Oct. 18, 2016. Cal St. Bernardino (43), Wingate (42) and Western Washington (32) are the only teams with longer runs.
Conlin paves the way to success ranking third in the league with 9.92 assists per set this season. The senior is the Division II active leader in aces (164) ranking third and eighth in all divisions in career assists (4,105) adding over 1,200 scoops.
Saturday afternoon, C-N will look to continue its dominant run against Newberry (2-5, 0-3) holding a 35-10 overall advantage having won three-straight matches against the Wolves winning in five sets and four games a year ago.
The Eagles had 28 total service aces and 10 matches apiece in the two matches last season. Streeter led the team with 26 smashes and Ballard posted 60 digs in the affairs.
Newberry has lost 11 consecutive SAC matches dating back to a home sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 9, 2018. The Wolves have won a combined six sets during that stretch as each contest this season has gone four frames. It is tied for the 15th-longest conference losing streak in the nation and second-longest in the region behind UNC Pembroke's nation-leading 37-match streak.
As a unit, the team is 11th or 12th in the league in every category except aces per frame ranking seventh with 1.77. Avery Webb is the team's standout player ranking sixth in aces with 0.54 and 11th in assists per set at 5.50.
Each match will have video and stat links available by going to the schedule on cneagles.com or following @CNathletics on Twitter for the latest information on this weekend's outings.
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