Wins over LaGrange, LMU keep undefeated Eagles soaring
LaGRANGE, Ga. – Carson-Newman kept the wheels rolling on its undefeated season, adding a pair of wins over LaGrange and Lincoln Memorial, 5-0 and 3-2, respectively, on Friday at the Strack Beach Volleyball Courts.
Box Score v. Lincoln Memorial (PDF)
LaGRANGE, Ga. – Carson-Newman kept the wheels rolling on its undefeated season, adding a pair of wins over LaGrange and Lincoln Memorial, 5-0 and 3-2, respectively, on Friday at the Strack Beach Volleyball Courts.
This marks the longest winning streak for Carson-Newman (5-0) in program history, topping the previous mark set by the 2016 squad when it closed the season with four-straight victories.
Today was the first-ever meeting between C-N and LaGrange (0-5), who is in its inaugural season. As for the series with Lincoln Memorial (3-3), this was the first win for the Eagles since 2016 when they swept the Railsplitters 5-0 at the Stevenson Tournament. C-N is now 4-9 against LMU, all-time.
"Today was a really great day for the team," Carson-Newman interim beach coach Lucy Pennington-Russell said. "They had outstanding play all around with good shots, good communication, and those both really carried us, especially in our short game. We had hard-fought battles, especially against Lincoln Memorial.
"LMU is an awesome team and has always been a challenge, but it was all about grit from the team today. They wanted to make a statement and they did just that."
DUAL ONE: Carson-Newman 5, LaGrange 0
The Eagles sailed through the first dual of the day with all five flights needing straight-set decisions over the Panthers, marking the second shutout win for them this season.
The top-flight of Summer Coulter (El Paso, Texas) and Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) flew past Kaela Busby and Bailey Moss, 21-9 and 21-6.
At the No. 2 spot, Lindsey Geurin (Clearwater Beach, Fla.) and Maddison Bishop (Olathe, Kan.) took down Jhaira Harris and Kylie Neall, 21-10 and 21-5.
Much like the No. 1 pairing, Abby Struewing (Lebanon, Ohio) and Mia Toribio (Spring, Texas) were victorious as the third-seed with 21-9, 21-6 sets over Ariel Modest and Shannon Williams.
Fourth-flight pair Morgan Siwiec (Toms River, N.J.) and Joy Rhodes (Youngsville, N.C.) found the closest set of the dual in their win over McKenzie Richards and Emily Boswell. The C-N dup won in 21-9, 21-18 decisions.
Kelly Hughes (Woodbridge, Va.) and Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) at the No. 5 flight defeated Baylee Robinson and Yana Fenderson, 21-7, 21-9.
DUAL TWO: Carson-Newman 3, Lincoln Memorial 2
The afternoon tussle with LMU brought the only three-set match for C-N on the day in a dual that decided by single-digits in each set.
Oldenburger and Coulter solidified the Orange and Blue win in the dual with a top-flight battle against Lindsey Martker and Rylee Storms. The C-N pair won the first set by a close 21-18 margin before LMU's side forced a third set on a 21-16 win. A highly-contested final set fell in favor of the Eagles, 15-12.
"Megan and Summer really fell into that hard-fought battle," Pennington-Russell said. "They were hustling for every ball in each set. Their heart and hustle were huge there."
The No. 2 and No. 3 lines came with straight-set victories for C-N. Geurin and Bishop defeated LMU's Yileen Ng He and Emma Winford, 21-17 and 21-15, while Toribio and Struewing elevated over Sarah Jones and Gabriela Abreu, 21-14 and 21-13, respectively.
The two flights LMU took from Carson-Newman came at the No. 4 and No. 5 flights.
At the fourth-seed, Siwiec and Rhodes fell to Caitlin Bethell and Emily Walter, 21-18 and 21-15. The fifth-seeded match off Barton and Hughes versus Sierra Lemons and Karlie Bowlin featured the lone extra-point set of the match with 21-18 and 22-2 decisions.
Carson-Newman stays in LaGrange for two more matches on Saturday. It opens the day in a rematch with Lincoln Memorial at 10 a.m. before taking on Huntingdon at 2 p.m.
