JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time in 2017, Carson-Newman hits the hardwood at Holt Fieldhouse when it plays host to Lincoln Memorial Tuesday night in a South Atlantic Conference battle starting at 7 p.m.
The Eagles have won four of their last five matches thanks to strong play as a unit. Wofford transfer Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) is second in the league in digs per set with 6.85 overall while posting 8.06 through four SAC affairs. She is the conference's record-holder for digs in a match the sophomore posted 58 at Mars Hill on Sept. 9.
Sophomore Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) has at least 12 kills in each of her last four matches and is averaging 4.25 per set in league action. Overall, her 3.59 kills per set is good for fifth in the league.
Dating back to 1992, Carson-Newman (5-2, 3-1) holds a 15-11 record in home openers. The Eagles have won four straight lidlifters at Holt including each of the last 11 sets played since dropping the second stanza to Converse on Sept. 6, 2013. The last setback came on Sept. 7, 2012 in a five-set loss to Francis Marion in the first match of the year as the Patriots overcame a 2-0 deficit in the affair.
The overall all-time record gives Lincoln Memorial (4-3, 1-3) a 29-16 advantage through the first 45 meetings and an 11-10 edge in contests played inside of Holt Fieldhouse.
In 2016, the Railsplitters swept the Eagles in Harrogate and outlasted C-N in five sets on Sept. 13. It was the first time that LMU won at Holt Fieldhouse since Nov. 12, 2013.
Following a runner-up finish in the 2016 regular season, Lincoln Memorial edged out Anderson (S.C.) for second in the preseason poll. The Railsplitters went to the NCAA Regionals as the No. 5 seed getting swept by fourth-seeded Armstrong. Jenny Michael's team graduated four key players including first-team All-SAC pick Abby Cash.
Tuesday night marks the conclusion to a five-match road trip for LMU as the team enters Holt Fieldhouse having lost three straight matches. The last time the program lost four straight games came from Sept. 12-22, 2015, 63 matches ago, when the Eagles won a five-set match at Mossy Creek to hand the 'Splitters their fourth straight defeat.
Michael's group is in the top half of the league in nearly every statistical category highlighted by 20.78 digs per set, third, 2.48 rejections per game, tops in the conference.
Junior libero Erica Whiteaker leads the nation in digs per set this year with 8.41. She has set and reset the school's record for digs in a match piling up 47 at Mars Hill on Sept. 7. Five days later, Whiteaker became the third player in league history to rack up 50 or more digs when she scooped up 51 in a five-set loss at Tusculum.
Preseason first-team All-SAC pick Samantha Cash sits in fifth place on the league's assists per set list averaging 9.96 on the year have surpassed 50 twice in her last four outings.
Kiera Holland was a preseason second-team All-SAC selection and currently ranks second with 3.67 kills per set having recorded double digits in each contest except a Sept. 1 meeting against King. The senior is coming off of a career-high 23 kills and 19 digs in a four-set loss at Newberry.
The match will be carried in high definition courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live with live stats available on cneagles.com/livestats starting 15 minutes prior to the first serve.
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