C-N starts weekend downed by the Bears

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman (10-12, 7-5 SAC) dropped three sets to the Bears (17-6, 11-1 SAC) on Friday night at the Shuford Arena to begin their packed weekend on the road. 

"Lenoir-Rhyne is a tough team to play this season. They are very well disciplined and we didn't execute in big moments." said head coach Ashley Tiernan. 

The Eagle's 35 digs in the three sets were overshadowed by 26 attacking errors leaving them with a .075 hitting percentage. The Bears were more efficient, capitalizing from a .221 team percentage. 

Julia Wheeler was the only Eagle to notch double digit kills and led the match with 16. Emmaleigh Allen led Lenoir-Rhyne with 14. 

Mckenna Hall nearly matched her career record of 26 digs. She led the Eagles and the Bears with 25. 

Set 1 (16-25)

The Bears set themselves apart early on in set one. They put up a strong force at the net, tallying four total blocks. C-N outscored LR in hits (11-10) but also tallied over double the errors (9-4). 

Set 2 (19-25)

The Eagles switched gears and pulled out ahead 10-5 to start out the second frame. The Bears responded and tied the match at 14-14 and chipped away at the lead. Julia Wheeler and Emmaleigh Allen tied with six kills a piece. Mckenna Hall tallied 10 of Carson-Newman's 15 digs on the set.

Set 3 (21-25)

Lenoir-Rhyne closed out the match in set three with 13 kills, a .205 hitting percentage, and 16 digs. The Eagles struggled to consistently score, ending with 11 kills and and a .053 percentage. They stood strong defensivley with 19 saves, 10 of which came from Mckenna Hall. 

The Eagles head to Greenwood, SC for some PBC matchups tomorrow at 12 and 7:30 pm.The livestream can be accessed at pbcsportsnetwork.com/landerbearcats. Live stats can be accessed at landerbearcats.com/sidearms/wvball/summary.