JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (11-15, 5-12 SAC) and Catawba (13-12, 9-8 SAC) were tied nine times in the fifth set, but a three point service run by the Indians' Kaitlyn Whitmir broke that ninth tie and propelled Catawba to a 15-13 win in the fifth set and 3-2 win in the match (28-18, 23-25, 15-25, 25-15, 15-13).

"That's the only way to describe it, absolute heartbreak," Carson-Newman assistant Carly Hess said.  "You could pinpoint it on the girls' faces, the hearbreak."

Casron-Newman's SAC tournament hopes are still alive.  A win Saturday against Wingate and the Eagles can snatch either the seventh or eighth seeds, but a loss to the Bulldogs keeps C-N at home. 

"As hard as this loss is tonight, we can't let it weigh on our spirits tomorrow," Hess said. "The best competitive edge we can have is emotional stability.  If we go in halfhearted and half defeated because of what went on tonight, then we're setting ourselves up for failure."

The Eagles received a balanced effort offensively with a team high 12 kills from Emily Schultz (Atlanta, Ga.) and Rachel Harper (Chattanooga, Tenn.).  Rachael Bowlin (Morristown, Tenn.) came a dig away from tying her career high with 21, while Angelle Hayes (Brentwood, Tenn.) turned in another solid effort at libero with 32 digs. 

Schultz and Sabina Papala (Laziska Gorne, Poland) bolstered the Eagle block with 2.5 and four respectively.

"Catawba is a very scrappy team, physically both teams were exhausted in the fifth set," Hess said. "Effort was maximum on both sides.  It came down to who was going to make the first mistake."

Carson-Newman tries to secure itself a spot in the SAC tournament with a match against league leader Wingate on Saturday at 2 p.m. Live stats for the contest are available at cneagles.com.

-CN-