ANDERSON, S.C. – On a night where Carson-Newman started sets quickly, Anderson produced the late surges to pull out a sweep of the Eagles, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-22, in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinals Thursday at the Abney Athletic Center.
"It was a blessing that we were able to play together for an entire year," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "There will never be another year as special as this one. Tonight wasn't our night but at the end of the day, that's not what matters. I'm proud of the young women our seniors have become and I'm excited to see where our underclassmen take us in the future."
The reigning SAC Tournament champions saw their run end seeing a string of three straight postseason victories over Anderson (9-2) come to an end. Carson-Newman (7-4) has now lost five visits to the Palmetto State in a row.
Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) led the Eagles with 10 kills and three block assists. The second-team all-conference selection hit .261 in her sixth match of the year with double-digit smashes.
Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) finished the match with five kills moving into 13th on the school's all-time list for smashes with 1,050. With 1,240 career digs, she sits in ninth on the all-time list as the fourth player in program history to tally quadruple digits in kills and digs.
Katie Parnell (Atlanta) wrapped up her career with 352 block assists, good for third all-time in C-N history as her 381 total rejections rank fifth.
Taylor Rohr (Windsor, Colo.) dished out 13 assists adding five digs while Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) led the team with 13 digs.
The Trojans ended the match with a .248 hitting percentage pounding out 45 kills chalking up 11 rejections while the Eagles were limited to a .118 margin on 29 smashes and six blocks.
Neither side led by more than two points in the opening game until a misfire by Maya Learmonth put C-N on top 13-10. After losing the next point, the Trojans reeled off 13 consecutive points to take charge at 23-14. Neely Shugart smashed a ball to the court to put the home club on top 1-0.
Anderson's attack overwhelmed the Orange and Blue in the second stanza with 19 kills and a .457 hitting percentage. With the tally knotted at 11, the Trojans reeled off eight of the next nine points to take a lead the Eagles could not overcome as Sadie Kluner's kill punctuated the set.
In the third, the teams were tied at four before the home club began to pull away swelling the bulge to 14-7. The Eagles continued to pull closer but could not get any closer than four. It was 23-16 when C-N scored seven of the next eight to make it a 24-22 game before a service error closed out the match in a game where both teams hit below .040.
Regan Duty led all players on the day with 14 kills without a miscue on 22 swings hitting .636 from her outside position. A trio of players each had nine smashes as Shugart chipped in two solo blocks and five block assists.
Madison Roy handed out 41 assists chipping in five digs and two block assists. Alexandra Petrill led the back line with 13 digs.
To stay up to date with the latest news and notes regarding the Carson-Newman volleyball program follow @CNathletics on Twitter and @cnvb_ on Instagram while bookmarking cneagles.com.
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