JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – On the brink of defeat in the fifth set, the Carson-Newman Eagles (19-3, 13-1 South Atlantic Conference) won the final four points of match to take a five-set victory over the Catawba Indians (11-10, 8-6 SAC) 24-26, 25-16, 25-16, 18-25 and 15-13 Friday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
With Carson-Newman trailing 13-11, Carson-Newman coach Dan Ahiers called timeout. An attack error from Rachel Gallup put junior libero Taylor Lowe (Franklin, Tenn.) on serve. Lowe's second service ace of the match tied the score and back-to-back kills from junior middle blocker Maddie Borch (Walnut Creek, Calif.) sealed a five-set victory.
"This week, coach was really getting on me about my serve being tougher," Lowe said. "I got back there and I knew I needed to get them out of system. The first one was an ace which was good. The next two got us two easy free balls and we got to put them away so it was awesome."
The Eagles came out firing out of the gates winning five of the first seven points of the contest and lead by as many as five points in the first set. With Carson-Newman on top 13-8, Catawba won eight of the next 10 points to take a 16-15 lead. It was one of nine times the set was tied with six lead changes. The home team had a 19-17 lead before the Indians won five of the next six and never looked back to take the first set.
"We haven't lost a lot of first sets this year," Ahiers said. "It was something a little different for our team to experience. They definitely didn't like it and came out a little angry. We won the next two sets pretty handily and then the fourth set, errors and what we call 'oops' plays, kind of got away from us. Catawba took complete control of that fourth set."
In the second set, the Eagles used a trio of runs to capture the stanza. A 4-0 spurt took a 3-3 tie to a 7-3 advantage on a kill by senior outside hitter Sara Fairley (Charlotte, N.C.). The Indians crawled back to make it a two-point deficit before a 5-2 string put Carson-Newman on top 12-7. Ahiers' group won eight of the final 11 points to even the match.
The third frame saw five ties and four lead changes, most of which happened at the beginning of the set. Carson-Newman trailed 6-5 before a 7-1 sequence that saw Catawba use two timeouts gave the Eagles a five-point advantage. The lead was five points once again when a 5-1 run made it 24-15 as the Eagles went ahead 2-1 in the contest.
The Indians controlled the fourth set from start-to-finish as the Eagles won consecutive points twice in the frame, both 3-0 mini-runs, while hitting .043. Catawba led by as many as eight points in the set and used four blocks force the decisive fifth set.
Three Eagles finished in double figures in kills on the evening led by Fairley's 19. Borch piled up a career-high 16 kills coupled with a .536 attack percentage and senior outside hitter Molly Locke (College Grove, Tenn.) had 12 kills and 15 digs, her ninth double-double of the year.
Sophomore setter Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) notched her 10th double-double of the year with 48 assists and 15 digs. Freshman libero Megan Morris (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) had 16 digs while Lowe finished with 14.
McKenzie Garrison was the lone Indian to finish with double-digit kills as she had 10 and 10 digs. Kaytee Frabotta also had a double-double with 24 assists and 14 digs to go along with six kills.
The Eagles finished with a season-high 12 service aces but committed 21 service errors. Carson-Newman finished with 63 kills on a .177 attack percentage, 76 digs and seven blocks while Catawba had 37 kills on a .115 hitting percentage, 77 digs and 11 blocks.
Carson-Newman prepares for a pair of matches against Queens (N.C.) and Peach Belt foe Columbus State Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively. Each match will be available on cneagles.com/live in high definition courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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