VIDEO: Ashley Tiernan, Morgan Ballard and Megan Oldenburger Press Conference
DENVER – Eight teams are still playing volleyball at the Division II level. Of those eight clubs, 136 players will put on their uniform while 279 teams are sitting at home. The nation's best has descended upon the Auraria Events Center looking for one more piece of hardware.
Sixth-seeded Carson-Newman (28-7) has won all six of its postseason matches and is in the midst of one of its hottest stretches in school history continues its quest Thursday at noon local time against third-seeded and 19th-ranked Rockhurst (32-7) who won a region title for the third time in the last five years.
"What an experience this is going to be," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "This season for us has been very special. We have taken off with this season and these girls are absolutely special for me. We are going to into this game, it's just another game. It's just another opponent. It's not anything different. It may be a bigger spotlight but we are going to be the same and do the things that we do. We aren't changing anything."
After opening the season 7-5, the Eagles are 21-2 watching their kills per set jump over two smashes with the efficiency leaping 34 points and the team averaging 2.74 rejections per set. While every attacker has improved, the key cog in the run, junior Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) has seen her kills rise from 2.09 to 3.29 and hitting percentage climb from .261 to .340.
"Within my three years, we have battled through adversity," junior Megan Oldenburger said. "It's another thing that we have overcome. Being together and absorbing all of the moments we are not worried about the things that happened to us. I am really proud of what we have done so far this season."
Tiernan's team is looking to do something that no team from the SAC has ever done, win a match at the National Quarterfinals. In fact only Carson-Newman, twice, and Wingate, five times, have won a region title from the league as neither school has advanced to the semifinals. C-N captured a set over Wayne State (Neb.) in 2015 while the Bulldogs won a set over eventual national champion Concordia-St. Paul in 2012. Only one team from the Southeast Region has ever advanced to the National Semifinals with Flagler sweeping Dowling in 2009 before losing in four frames to West Texas A&M.
"For all six of us seniors, we have all been through a lot," senior Morgan Ballard said. "It's been a roller coaster ride to see the change in mentality and physicality over the past few years. We have come so close as a team. When Ashley took over, everything seemed to fall into place. It's a blessing to be here today. We are all soaking it up and I think that we will for the rest of the week."
The two programs have never met in volleyball but C-N has played five matches against five dfferent current members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference going 2-3 in those affairs. Most recently the Eagles defeated Quincy in the 2015 season opener in five sets at Grand Valley State, the start of the team's first region title.
The Orange and Blue's other win over a GLVC team provided another ignition to an historic season when the program took down Missouri-St. Louis in five frames in game two of the 2002 season. Carson-Newman hoisted the South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament titles that season, the only time in school history that has happened.
Each team has won seven straight matches entering the week, good for the fourth-longest string. Second-seeded Nebraska-Kearney and top-seeded Cal St. Bernardino are undefeated with 36 and 30 wins respectively while eighth-seeded Molloy has seized 13 straight.
"When our offense is on, we are phenomenal," Tiernan said. "When all six of our attackers are doing the things that they need to do and moving the ball around they are putting the ball away the way that we need them to. Our defense has been relentless. That's one of the words that we have stuck to. Being resilient and relentless out there, not letting anything hit the floor. It's been awesome to watch these girls because nothing rocks them."
Rockhurst enters the week having won seven straight matches taking home both the regular season and GLVC Tournament crowns along the way. The Hawks were ranked 19th in the country in the final AVCA coaches' poll. The club was the No. 5 seed in the Midwest taking down 17th-ranked Ferris State in five sets before sweeping top-seeded and 14th-ranked Lewis and second-seeded and 10th-ranked Hillsdale.
The Hawks are familiar with the region in recent history playing Flagler, C-N's region semifinal opponent, in the 2017 National Quarterfinals where Rockhurst sealed a four-set win in Pensacola, Fla. It has now won region titles in three of the last five years and was in Tampa with C-N in 2015 falling to Western Washington in four sets in the quarterfinals.
One of the best offensive teams in the nation, Rockhurst ranks fifth in the country in attack percentage at .270 posting 14.23 kills per set, 11th in Division II. Karli Reichert leads the charge with 4.33 points per set. The two-time first-team All-American, one of eight in history, became the program's first-ever GLVC Player of the Year in 2019.
Joining Reichert on the top team was outside hitter Alyssa Woodman, an honorable mention All-American, and setter Dani Prusha. Woodman racked up 427 kills joining Reichert in the top 50 nationally while Prusha is second in America with 1,487 assists.
Ticket information, live stats and a schedule of events can be found by visiting the webpage by clicking here. Every match during the weekend will air on NCAA.com or users with a smart TV, streaming device or other smart device can access the video by using the BR Live app.
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