CLEVELAND, Ga. - Carson-Newman's beach volleyball program moves to 6-0 for the first time in program history after a pair of wins against LaGrange College and St. Andrews University on Friday, Feb. 10th.
The Eagles have notched five 5-0 sweeps this season, tying their previous best (2022, 2016). Carson-Newman had never recorded more than two sweeps before the five consecutive sweeps to start their season.
Sierra Still ties Lindsey Geurin for most wins in program history. Still holds a career record of 32-20 with a win percentage of .615, ranking second in program history with players who have competed in an entire season. McKenna Hall ranks first with a win percentage of .636.
"We were a little off today as a whole and had to work on some things," beach volleyball head coach Cat Lind said. "I am proud of the way each pair fought through adversity. We learned a lot today and got the results we were looking for."
C-N vs. LaGrange 5-0
Carson-Newman advances to 4-0 against Lagrange College, with three of those wins coming this season. Cat Lind's squad has outscored the Panthers 551-231 in their three matchups this season.
The duo of Truth Hafey and Sierra Still took on Riley Morgan and Carmen Hamilton in the number one spot. Still and Hafey won both sets with scores of 21-13 and 21-6. Their first set was the smallest score deficit in the entire match.
Abbey Hildenbrand and Ava Fountain defeated LaGrange's Morgan Martin and Alexis Childers with consecutive sets of 21-4, marking the largest score deficit of the season so far.
McKenna Hall and Julia Wheeler played in the three spot for the Eagles against Rhaya Harwell and Vianca Colon-Gonzalez. Wheeler and Hall cruised to a two-set victory with scores of 21-5 and 21-10.
Due to a lack of players, LaGrange was forced to forfeit the four and five matches. The Eagles and Panthers played an exhibition match with Kenzie Palmer and Taylor Keeran defeating Riley Morgan and Zentrina Choice in sets of 21-7 and 21-12.
C-N vs. St. Andrews 4-1
Carson-Newman moves to 6-0 all-time against St. Andrews University. The win marks the fourth straight neutral location match that the Eagles have won to start the season after going 6-10 in neutral site matches last season.
Hafey and Still lined up against Kyra McKinney and Parker Venable in the one spot. The Eagles won 21-16 in a competitive first set to begin the match. Hafey and Still dominated the second set 21-4 to give the Eagles an early lead.
Hildenbrand and Fountain lined up against the St. Andrews duo of Marisa Alejo-Vann and Kaleigh Moraweitz. The Eagles pulled away in a pair of 21-16 sets.
Hall and Wheeler took down Bailey Zivitski and Abby Benekus in the three spot. The Eagles won in sets of 21-13 and 21-14. Hall ranks first in team history with a win percentage of .636 in 33 matches.
Lauren Gauna and Kaitlin Ybarra handed the Eagles their first pair of losing sets of the season against Palmer and Keeran. The Eagles won the first set 21-19 but dropped the second set 21-16. The Knights pulled away in the tiebreaking set to win 15-13.
Ashlyn Phair and Piper Halcrow saw their first action of the day when they lined up against Emily Hinchliffe and Jordyn Skeems in the five position. The Eagles won in sets of 21-19 and 21-12.
Calla Shotwell and Kat Nelson split an exhibition game against Mikayla Davy and Paloma Sutty. The Knights won the first set 21-18, but the Eagles rallied to win the second set 21-11.
The Eagles have a chance to move to 8-0 after this weekend with a pair of matches to be played on Saturday, Feb. 11th, against D-III foe Huntingdon and Truett McConnell.
"Tomorrow will be a big test for us. I'm excited to us step up," Lind said.
Action begins at 10:15 A.M. against the Huntingdon Hawks. Last year Huntingdon finished third at the D-III Nationals. Carson-Newman is 1-2 all-time against the Hawks but won their previous matchup on Mar. 7th of, 2020. Huntingdon has a 1-1 record to start the year after dropping a 4-1 match against Truett McConnell and sweeping Lagrange 5-0.
Carson-Newman competed in their first two matches against Truett McConnell in their matchups last weekend. The Eagles swept both matches 5-0. The Bears are 3-2 on the year after beating LaGrange twice this season and Huntingdon once.
For more updates on Carson-Newman's beach volleyball team, visit CNEagles.com or follow Carson-Newman Athletics on social media.
