BREVARD, N.C. – Carson-Newman fell behind 2-0 to Brevard Friday evening at Boshamer Gymnasium before stampeding its opponent the rest of the night to pull out a five-set thriller 23-25, 16-25, 26-24, 25-19 and 15-13 in South Atlantic Conference action.
"What a great effort we put forth tonight," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklinn said. "We were able to execute what we worked all week in practice on, offensive consistency and controlling our error percentage.
"We made great fundamental adjustments as the night progressed. Such a proud moment to watch a group of athletes just have zero quit in them and to just keep getting better no matter our win-loss record. The next step is consistency each match but what a huge step forward tonight. Go Eagles!"
C-N (2-12, 2-8) snapped an eight-match losing streak on the year while defeating Brevard (3-13, 3-7) for the 20th time in as many matches in the all-time series.
The first set featured seven ties and three lead changes with Brevard opening up a 10-5 lead. C-N clawed back to take a 16-15 lead before a 4-1 sequence saw the home group take a three-point edge at 23-20 and a kill from Rachel Ruble put BC ahead 1-0.
The score was tied at five early in the second set when a 10-4 spurt from Brevard opened up the scoring. The Eagles could not claw within five points the rest of the set to fall in a frame that featured eight service aces from the Tornados.
The third game saw the home group hold a lead for the majority of the time including a match point at 24-23. An attack error, a kill from sophomore middle blocker Natalie Harris (Monroe, N.C.) and a service ace by senior libero Taylor Lowe (Franklin, Tenn.) clinched the set for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman got off to a better start in the fourth set taking a 10-7 advantage and a 5-2 exchange favoring C-N pushed the lead to 18-11. The separation was all the visitors needed despite a couple late errors to advance to a fifth set.
The score was tied twice in the fifth frame and the Eagles held the Tornados to a .000 hitting percentage. Brevard tied the score at 13 overcoming a two-point hole before a kill from freshman outside hitter Abbie McFarlane (McKinney, Texas) and an attack error sent the Eagles celebrating.
Carson-Newman clubbed a .175 attack percentage with 91 digs, 13 total blocks and four service aces while Brevard countered with a .095 hitting clip, 95 digs, 14 service aces and seven total rejections.
Freshman outside hitter Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) led the Eagles with 14 kills on a .233 attack percentage to go along with six digs. McFarlane chipped in her second double-double of the year with 13 kills and 13 digs.
Lowe finished with 28 digs while junior setter Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) added 41 assists and 11 digs.
Savannah Cox led the charge for the Tornados with a match-high 18 kills and Ruble tossed in 13 kills. Callie Chappell and Bri Vargas tallied double-doubles with 10 kills and 12 digs and 41 assists and 14 digs respectively.
Carson-Newman will look to make it consecutive wins for the first time in 2016 Saturday with a trip to Lenoir-Rhyne scheduled for 6 p.m.
