JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - With its first 12 matches on the road to begin the 2022 season, Carson-Newman volleyball will be well travelled by season's end as coach Ashley Tiernan released the 2022 schedule Thursday featuring 29 total matches including 17 total away from the friendly confines of Holt Fieldhouse.
Over the first 22 days of the year, the Eagles will travel 1,608 miles roundtrip playing in two tournaments playing four South Atlantic Conference Tournament outings. The season kicks off in the Music City on Aug. 26-27 with four matches over two days at the Trevecca Nazerene Tournament. Conference action ignites on Aug. 30 with a Tuesday night visit to Tusculum for a 6 p.m. first serve.
"We wanted to make sure we set ourselves up to be a regional contender," Tiernan said. "We wanted to make sure to play the right people at the right time. We reached out and scheduled some games that we hope are going to be game changers during that time and are excited to get rolling with it."
Opening September, the Orange and Blue are back on the road for the USC Aiken Tournament playing four matches in roughly a 24-hour period. The next 13 outings will come against league foes with three more road trips before opening the doors to Holt Fieldhouse for the first time on the season on Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. against UVA Wise at 2 p.m.
"Based off of regional rankings from last year, there were eight of us that were regionally ranked from our conference alone," Tiernan said. "It's a big deal so as many SAC teams as we can play as often as we can play them and play Peach Belt teams that regionally helps us and takes us in the right direction."
Closing out the month of October, C-N plays a season-long six-match homestand highlight by playing the SAC/Peach Belt Crossover on Oct. 21-22. The opponents will not be determined until the weekend prior to the matches as the coaches from the leagues will determine contests based off of league standings looking to help bolster regional rankings.
"We are excited about the schedule and know it's going to be tough," Tiernan said. "Starting our conference play at Tusculum August 30 is going to be a big game so we have to be ready for that. We have to get things in place to hopefully get us strong enough and ready enough to go out and compete to the best of our ability."
To close out the regular season, the Eagles visit Emory & Henry and UVA Wise, the two newest members of the league to put a bow on the year before getting prepared for the league tournament.
The 2022 SAC Volleyball Championships start on campus sites on Nov. 7 before the semifinalists converge on Rock Hill, S.C., SAC headquarters, on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12 to crown the tournament champion.
Every home contest in 2022 will be featured on a video stream brought to you by The Eagle Sports Network. Coverage all year long will also be available on Twitter by following @CN_Eagles and @CarsonNewmanVB.
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