MARS HILL, N.C. – Four Eagles finished with double-digit kills but it was not enough to outlast Mars Hill in five sets as Carson-Newman dropped its second straight match, 21-25, 25-20, 16-25, 25-19 and 12-15 Saturday at Stanford Arena in South Atlantic Conference play.
"I am proud of the competitiveness that we showed today," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We brought the energy and intensity that we needed but fell short in our scoring."
The Eagles were more efficient in the match tallying a .189 attack percentage versus a .149 clip from the Lions. It is the first time the program has suffered back-to-back defeats since Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, 2019. Carson-Newman (4-2, 4-2) had won two of the last three meetings with Mars Hill (4-2, 4-2).
Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) tied the match lead with 14 kills chipping in a season-high 26 digs for the 39th double-double of the senior's career. She added a pair of solo blocks.
Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) piled up a dozen smashes hitting .167. Carson-Newman's middles combined for 24 kills. Katie Parnell (Atlanta) tallied her first double-digit kill effort since 2018 finishing with 13 kills hitting .379 while Kaina Roehrkasse (Fort Collins, Colo.) posted 11.
Taylor Rohr (Windsor, Colo.) notched a monster afternoon with a season-high 27 assists adding a career-high 21 digs. Madison Rademacher (Broomfield, Colo.) chipped in 20 assists and 10 digs.
Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) racked up a double-double with 22 digs and 10 assists, the first double-double by a libero in at least the last decade, as far as game logs go back to the 2012 season.
Overall in the match there were 31 ties and 14 lead changes with the first frame setting the tone with seven and three respectively. The Eagles held an early 7-5 lead only to see Mars Hill go on top by four before a 5-0 burst put the visitors on top 15-14. The Lions took the next four and finished on a 9-1 run after trailing 20-16.
Carson-Newman broke up a 6-6 tie by winning 11 of the next 14 points to go ahead on back-to-back blasts by Oldenburger. The Lions put together a late surge but an attack error by Grace Lilly was the finishing miscue in the second as they made six miscues.
The third set was deadlocked at 11 only to see the home club rip off an 7-1 run to go on top 18-12 before coasting to the finish line limiting the Eagles to a .061 hitting percentage.
Tiernan's club bounced back in the fourth to force a fifth set behind a strong finish. With the score tied at 13, the Eagles took charge to go ahead by three and closing the set with five of the final seven points to send the match to the fifth.
The two sides traded punches early but the Lions won back-to-back points after the score was tied at four to take a lead it would never relinquish. Despite C-N pulling within one three times and tying the score at seven, the Lions won four of the final six to win the match.
Sarah Goddard paced the offense for the winning side with 14 kills and 19 digs. Lilly chipped in 13 and 17 respectively with Jana Cuk adding a dozen.
Ully Martins led all players with 31 digs adding seven assists. Sara Pasour racked up 22 assists and 20 digs and Jordan Schmucker posted 20 assists and 14 digs.
Due to Covid issues at Tusculum, the Eagles will not have a midweek affair this week and will instead close out the road portion of their schedule next Friday traveling to Harrogate to face Lincoln Memorial at 4 p.m.
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