HARROGATE, Tenn. – With 10 road outings under its belt, Carson-Newman is slated to finish the campaign with three of the next four away from home starting with a Tuesday night South Atlantic Conference tilt against Lincoln Memorial at 7 p.m.
The Eagles enter the contest with four straight road wins having not lost since Oct. 9 at Wingate. To find the last time the team won five in a row on the road, you have to go back to 2014 when the club went undefeated in SAC road contests winning 11 straight from Sept. 19 to Nov. 4, a five-set victory over seventh-ranked Wingate.
Under coach Ashley Tiernan, Carson-Newman (16-11, 9-5) is 9-1 when playing on Tuesdays with six coming in straight stanzas. All told, the program had reeled off nine straight wins on Tuesday nights, seven sweeps, before losing to Mars Hill in five sets on Oct. 12, 2021, its first loss since falling in four at Mars Hill on Sept. 17, 2019.
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Tuesday night is the 54th time that the two programs have faced on the volleyball court with Lincoln Memorial (8-16, 4-10) holding a 32-21 lead in the series. However, a win for the Eagles would be the longest for C-N in the history of the series passing a four-match string in 1992 and 1993. The Railsplitters are 19-8 at home in the clash but have dropped two in a row.
For the second straight meeting, the teams needed five sets when they faced off on Sept. 14. The Eagles won the first two before dropping the third and fourth games and faced two match points before winning 18-16 in the fifth to win the match. Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.) led the way with 41 assists, 11 digs and nine kills hitting .179 adding an ace and three block assists in the match and Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) led all players with 18 kills on the night adding 18 digs.
After starting the year 5-12, the Railsplitters have won three of the last seven including a five-set triumph over Newberry on Saturday. The unit has only won back-to-back matches once this year defeating Coker and King in a four-day span in mid-October.
At the net, Lincoln Memorial is 10th in the league in kills per set with 11.28 and opponent's hitting percentage giving up a .189 margin. There is a bit of glimmer of hope as the team produced 101 smashes and hit over .200 last weekend with Gabriela Abreu had 16 in the win over the Wolves.
Sevgi Koyuncu is fifth in the conference with 4.83 digs per set with double digits in 19 consecutive matches including four with 30 or more including a season-high 34 in a five-set loss to Anderson on Oct. 15.
Stats and video for the match can be found courtesy of Lincoln Memorial with the latest news and notes on the program always available by following @CN_Eagles on Twitter.
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