Carson-Newman Volleyball Match Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman begins the second half of its South Atlantic Conference schedule Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. at Mary Mars Gymnasium against the top team in the league, Lincoln Memorial.
"The way we were looking at our season for the way our record is set up is to see how much growth we can show in the second half of conference," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "[Last weekend] was our final preparation to find out where we are and how ready are we for the second half. I think we got good information. We saw ourselves implement things in blocking and offense."
Carson-Newman is playing on a Tuesday for just the third time this season having lost in five frames to LMU and falling in four sets to Tusculum.
The Eagles are being led by senior libero Taylor Lowe (Franklin, Tenn.) who on Saturday moved into sole possession of third on the program's all-time digs list passing Angelle Hayes (2009-12) and bring her career tally to 1,966. The senior is second in the league in total digs with 413 and third in digs per set with 5.51.
Lincoln Memorial (16-3, 10-1) leads the all-time series 30-16 including victories in back-to-back matches between the two programs. The Railsplitters are on top of the table after Wingate dropped a couple of head-scratching matches to Anderson and Newberry over the weekend failing to reach 15 points in three sets.
The most recent matchup between the two at Mary Mars Gym saw the 'Splitters win in straight sets on Oct. 27, 2015 snapping C-N's 17-match SAC road winning streak.
Lincoln Memorial hit .358 in the match, the highest attack percentage by a Carson-Newman opponent since Wingate hit .361 on October 16, 2010.
The first meeting this seasons saw the Eagles win sets two and three before falling 25-21 and 15-11 in the fourth and fifth frames. It was the first time that LMU had won at Holt Fieldhouse since Nov. 12, 2013.
C-N saw a trio of freshman record double-digit kills for the first time in school history as Abbie McFarlane (McKinney, Texas) had 16 and 12 digs, Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) had 16 and Alex Biro (Ootlewah, Tenn.) notched 10.
Kiera Holland led the way for coach Jenny Michael's squad with a match-high 20 kills while hitting .231 with seven digs. Liz Brock added 12 kills while Abby Cash finished with 44 assists and 11 digs.
The 'Splitters dropped its most recent contest, a four-set setback to USC Aiken but the squad has won eight of their last nine since being swept at Wingate Sept. 23, the lone league loss for LMU.
In 11 SAC matches this season, LMU is hitting .229 to rank second in the league, Overall on the seasno, the Railsplitters have hit above .200 in 13 of the team's 19 games.
The schedule for Michael's club has been littered with road and neutral contests as LMU has played just four times on its home court going 4-0 in those contests.
LMU ranks 31st in the country in blocks per set (2.22), 41st in kills per frame (13.25) and 42nd in hitting percentage (.226).
Cash leads the conference in assists per set with 10.07, ranks sixth in aces per game with 0.35 and is 13th in digs per set with 3.55. Holland is fourth in the SAC in kills per set with 3.21 and Tone Gill is second with 1.08 blocks per set.
Lincoln Memorial will provide live stats and live video for Tuesday night's contest as the Eagles tangle with the 'Splitters on their Social Media Night.
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