JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman volleyball team fell to Tusculum, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 15-25), on Tuesday night in South Atlantic Conference play at Holt Fieldhouse.

With the loss, C-N falls to 14-8 overall and 8-7 in the conference, while Tusculum improves to 19-5 on the season and 13-2 in SAC play. The Lady Eagles wore pink jerseys for the match in an effort to raise breast cancer awareness on Dig for the Cure Night.

Senior Carly Mozgai (Greensboro, N.C.) paced the Lady Eagles with 18 kills with a hitting percentage of .320, while junior Carly Swisher (Fort Collins, Colo.) added 11 kills. Rachael Bowlin (Morristown, Tenn.) produced seven kills and 10 digs, while Nikki James (Cookeville, Tenn.) added five kills and three blocks.

Lara McDonald (Salem, Va.) and Courtney Lawson (Chattanooga, Tenn.) dished out 22 and 20 assists, respectively, for C-N, while Angelle Hayes (Brentwood, Tenn.) had a team-high 19 digs.

Rhayne Smitherman (Columbus, Ohio) tallied 16 kills with a hitting percentage of .379 to lead Tusculum, while Sam Underwood (Muncie, Ind.) added 12 kills and Allyson Ray (Hudson, Fla.) had 10 kills in the win.

Ashley Sarmiento (Dayton, Ohio) handed out a match-high 42 assists and recorded 20 digs, while Caitlyn Dean (Fort Wayne, Ind.) pitched in 23 digs for the Pioneers.

The teams battled to a 21-21 tie in the first set before C-N outscored the Pioneers 4-1 the rest of the way and won the game on a kill by McDonald.

After the Lady Eagles scored the first point of the second set, Tusculum went on a 4-0 run to take the lead for good. The Pioneers led by as many as six points (20-14) late in the set. C-N was able to trim Tusculum's lead to 20-17, but Tusculum outscored the Lady Eagles 5-4 and closed out the set on a C-N attack error.

After playing to a 16-16 tie in the third set, Tusculum took control and went on a 9-4 run and won the game, 25-20, on a kill by Alyssa Raterman (Urbana, Ohio).

The Pioneers claimed the match with a 25-15 win in the fourth on the strength of a .393 hitting percentage.

The Lady Eagles return to action on Saturday with a pair of matches in Spartanburg, S.C. C-N is set to play Barton at 2 p.m., followed by a match with Converse at 4 p.m.