NEWBERRY, S.C. – In the most efficient match of Dave Franklin's tenure, Carson-Newman saw three players finish with double-digit kills in a 25-14, 18-25, 25-15 and 25-15 win at Eleazer Arena over Newberry Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference play.
"It was a fun today to see our offense have an explosion!" Franklin said. "We had relentless pressure from the service line as well which is a calling card of our program and team identity. The depth of this team was on display today and must continue to develop as over 30 matches we are going to need to use it to accomplish our goals. We must continue to develop our block and defense to a much higher level and will go back to work on that on Monday."
With a .402 team hitting percentage, Carson-Newman (5-3, 3-2) produced its highest efficiency mark since tallying a .412 clip against Converse on Sept. 10, 2014, a span of 163 matches and 1,838 days.
Joy Rhodes (Youngsville, N.C.) led the way with a career-high 18 kills hitting .455 for the match adding nine digs and three aces. Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) was on her heels with 13 kills on a .550 margin. Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) added a double-double for the second time this year with 11 kills and 16 scoops.
Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) moved into sixth on the school's all-time list bringing her career total to 1,794 with 16 digs in the match passing Kendra Rickertsen's 1,784 from 1999-02.
Elena Vasquez (Riverside, Calif.) notched a career-high 31 assists and Madison Rademacher (Broomfield, Colo.) registered 22 assists, six digs and a career-high six aces. She is the first player since Anna Patton in the 2017 NCAA Tournament to have at least five aces in a match.
The Eagles finished with 56 kills, 59 digs, 18 service aces and four blocks, The aces were the most by the program since Aug. 29, 2007 when it had 21 after the unit produced 16 at Newberry last season.
1⃣8⃣ @CarsonNewmanVB aces
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) September 21, 2019
1⃣8⃣ kills from @Rhodesjoy_
3⃣1⃣ assists from @lenfrances02
The Eagles were rolling in a four-set victory this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/foFCfP8vGc
It was nearly a flawless opening to the day for the Eagles as the club whacked 16 kills without an error and hitting .533 as a team. C-N fell behind 8-5 early but flipped the script with an 8-2 surge to go on top before ending the set on a 12-3 sequence to jump out to a 1-0 edge.
Newberry found its offensive rhythm in the second stanza pounding out a .310 hitting clip behind 17 kills. Trailing 7-5, the Wolves banged out seven points in-a-row to take a lead that C-N could never cut into never getting closer than three points. A kill by Toni-Anne Whitlow tied the contest at one.
Behind 4-3 in the third, the Eagles reeled off 11 unanswered points to take a 14-4 lead and control. Newberry scored three straight once the rest of the way before an ace from Lindsay De Vore (Denton, Texas) gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.
Looking to close out the match, C-N came out rolling in the fourth scoring eight of the first 10 points of set four. The Eagles bookended the frame winning five of the final six points to win the match.
The Wolves racked up a .222 hitting percentage on 39 kills with 47 digs, nine aces and three blocks. Zoe Dinkins led the offense with 10 kills hitting .444 and Whitlow added nine without a miscue on a .375 clip. Taylor Garrison handed out 28 assists and Morgan Walter picked up 17 digs.
The Eagles return home Tuesday evening for a 7 p.m. first serve against Lincoln Memorial from Holt Fieldhouse. Visit cneagles.com/live for the broadcast courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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