Box Score
HARROGATE, Tenn. – To cap day one at the Lincoln Memorial Tournament, Carson-Newman fell in four sets to Lee 20-25, 23-25, 25-19 and 20-25 Friday evening inside of Mary Mars Gymnasium.
"There was a lot of growth from our team today," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "We started the day off tight, nervous and unsure of ourselves. As the day went along our confidence grew and we saw things we were capable of doing. Lee was a disciplined and experienced team who pushed us to our limits of discipline. We just couldn't keep the pace with them tonight.
"Our culture has been a major focus for nine months and our returners have done an amazing job of helping our younger kids grow quickly to show them what our program is about and what we are building."
Carson-Newman (1-1) has now lost six straight matches against Lee (1-1) dating back to its last win over the Flames in 1993.
Senior setter Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) picked up a double-double with 17 assists and 13 digs.
Freshman Emily Harnischfeger (Macedon, N.Y.) paced the offense with eight digs. Fellow rookie Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) tallied seven smashes, eight digs and 2.5 rejections.
Junior Natalie Harris (Monroe, N.C.) picked up seven kills with 2.5 blocks while sophomore Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) racked up 22 digs.
Lee gained a three-point lead at 8-5 early in the first frame before C-N countered an 8-2 sequence to take a 13-10 advantage. The Flames chipped away and after trailing 16-14 rattled off seven unanswered points to take a 21-16 lead that the Eagles never recovered from. Bailey Kress smacked a ball to the ground for a kill to put Lee ahead 1-0.
Second set action was hotly contested as the largest lead for either team was three points and featured eight ties. Lee led 17-14 only to see the Eagles bounce back and take a 20-19 edge after back-to-back attack errors. The Flames won four straight points and finished off the stanza with a kill from Mary K. Givhan.
Carson-Newman was on fire in the third set to the tune of a .323 hitting percentage and five rejections. A 4-1 spurt allowed the Eagles to begin to pull away at 10-6. Lee pulled within two at 15-13 before a 5-1 jaunt made it a 20-14 set. Kills from Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) and Harris capped the set to keep C-N afloat.
Four of the first five points of the fourth set went to Lee before the Eagles won eight of the next 10 to go on top 9-7. The advantage was 15-13 when the Flames won six consecutive points to go ahead 19-15. The Eagles failed to close the gap the rest of the way as Alex Reuter sealed the match with a service ace.
Lee's Silvia Sartori led all players with 17 kills while hitting .351 with 16 digs. Quinne Daoust provided 10 kills.
MaKayla Beebe led all players with 26 digs and Sadie Johnson handed out 18 assists.
The Eagles wrap up competition at the Lincoln Memorial Tournament Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. with their fourth meeting all-time against Erskine. Live stats and video will be available through the folks at LMU.
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