Jefferson City, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman College Volleyball Team (3-1) split its pair of matches Saturday to conclude play in the Chick-fil-A Invitational. The Lady Eagles fell to the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville, 3-0, in their first outing of the day before defeating the University of Charleston (W.Va.) Golden Eagles, 3-0, to wrap up tournament play on a high note.

"Today was a great day for us to prepare for conference and region play, said Lady Eagle Head Coach Shannon Mincey." "(Texas A&M)-Kingsville is bigger and moves their offense quicker than most teams in our region. Our front line had an opportunity for aggressive play against a large sealed block. We had shining moments but never seemed to control the offense. They served more aggressively and hit stronger than we did and in return kept the momentum."

Texas A&M-Kingsville 3, Carson-Newman 0 - (25-20, 25-23, 25-16)
In the first set of the match, Carson-Newman kept it close with Texas A&M-Kingsville until the Javelinas were able to score the last four points of the frame to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set saw the Lady Eagles battle back from a 20-12 deficit to bring the score within one at 20-19. C-N couldn't get over the hump and ended up dropping the stanza by a 25-23 score.

TAMUK's attack propelled them to the win in the third set to take the match as the Javelinas boasted a .375 hitting percentage (12-3-24) as a team for the frame. With the set score at, 9-7, Texas A&M-Kingsville went on the offensive to put the match away.

Carson-Newman was led offensively by senior right side hitter Caitlin Schlegel (Anacortes, Wash.) as she recorded eight kills on 17 swings. Senior outside hitter Jessica Schlachleiter (Cincinnati, Ohio) tallied seven kills and recorded a team-high 10 digs while senior setter Stephanie Cutter (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) dished-out a match-high 19 assists for the Lady Eagles as well.

Javelina senior Sha Tramble (Houston, Texas) led all players with 11 kills on 27 attempts while seniors Tara Grier (Poth, Texas) and Kirby Krueger (New Braunfels, Texas) combined for 34 assists. Junior Virginia Hernandez (Katy, Texas) tallied a game-high 13 digs as well for TAMUK.

"Playing against Kingsville gave me an opportunity to see how the players would come back for the second match after dropping three sets," said Mincey. "I leaned on my seniors to bring maturity back to the court dealing with a loss and turning around to mentally prepare for Charleston."

Carson-Newman 3, Charleston (W.Va.) 0 - (25-20, 25-17, 25-13)
The Lady Eagles were dominant on the attack, outhitting the Golden Eagles .318 (36-9-85) to .080 (28-20-91) and racked up six blocks to Charleston's one.

In the second set, C-N jumped out to a 13-5 and cruised to the victory behind five kills from senior middle hitter Katie Troyer (Plain City, Ohio).

The Lady Eagles put the match away in the third frame as their attack was nearly flawless (14-1-26). Schlachleiter and Schlegel each tallied four kills in the set en route to the victory.

Troyer and Schlegel led the way offensively for Carson-Newman with nine and eight kills, respectively, while Cutter racked up 23 of the team's 32 assists. Sophomore middle Nikki James (Cookeville, Tenn.) and freshman middle Jasmine Clarke (Pelham, Ala.) each finished the match with five blocks as well.

Schachleiter and Hayes recorded nine digs, a team-high for the Lady Eagles.

Charleston middle hitter Emmalee Luther (Fort Pierce, Fla.) registered a team-high six kills and was helped along by four teammates who each tallied five kills apiece. Katie Williams (Gettysburg, Pa.) had the lone double-double of the match, dishing out 23 assists and picking up 14 digs for the Golden Eagles.

"We talked after the Kingsville match about coming in focused and playing with more intensity," said Mincey after the victory over Charleston. "Our hitters came out strong and didn't play tentatively and our defense communicated well. We had a lot of transition kills and our serves took Charleston out of their offense. I was pleased with our leadership and focus."

Carson-Newman will travel to Bristol, Tenn., on Tuesday to face King College in a NCAA Division II Southeast Region matchup. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.