JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After Carson-Newman spoiled Tusculum's home opener in 2017, the Pioneers journey to Holt Fieldhouse Tuesday for a 7 p.m. first serve in South Atlantic Conference in an attempt to hand the Eagles their third loss in their last four matches.
"They know that this team is going to gun for them," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin stated. "This will be the first time that they played a team twice so that will be another new experience for them. They know what they can bring. I think for us it's staying in rhythm. We only have a couple days to prepare. It's going to be taking what we learned from [last] week – a lot of learning [last] week."
Carson-Newman (6-4, 4-3) and Tusculum (6-5, 4-3) meet in Jefferson City for the 27th time in an attempt to break a 13-13 tie at Mossy Creek. The Pioneers hold the edge in the series 31-26, but the Eagles are seeking a season sweep for the third time in the last four years. In fact, the last time the two programs split a regular-season series came in 2008 which each school won on the road.
C-N earned a four-set victory in front of a record crowd at Pioneer Arena on Sept. 8 of this year. The Eagles had lost eight of their last 10 road openers in SAC play and are now 12-14 as a program in conference cork poppers.
Franklin's team controlled the net posting a .227 attack percentage and 11 blocks compared to a .130 clip from Tusculum and just three rejections.
The outside hitting duo of Marnie Streeter and Megan Oldenburger piled up 31 kills and a .274 hitting clip. Streeter paced the visiting group with 20 kills, her third career match with at least 20 kills while Oldenburger tallied her first career double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs.
Cassie Born led the Pioneers with 14 kills but made 10 attack errors and Mariah Lewis chipped in 10. Shannon Murphy picked up a double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs. Melissa Mazur led the backline with 27 digs.
Since suffering the setback to the Eagles, the Pioneers are 4-2 in their last six matches that features a five-set defeat to undefeated Wingate. Tusculum was ahead 2-1 in the match only to see Wingaet rally from a 20-15 deficit in the fourth set and fight off one match-point in the fifth to win 17-15.
Despite having preseason first-team All-SAC pick at libero Melissa Mazur, coach Michael Robinson's unit ranks last in digs per set during league action with 17.68. Mazur ranks fifth in the league overall with 5.15 per stanza.
Opponents are feasting on a block that is in the middle of the pack in the SAC as foes are hitting .193 overall on the year, the second-highest tally in the conference. The lowest clip any team has registered was by Mars Hill on Sept. 19 when the Lions hit .128 against 12 blocks from the Pioneers.
Born has been potent on the outside ranking second in the SAC with 149 total kills with eight matches in double figures that includes one of the top matches this year of 26 kills on a .266 percentage and 26 digs in a five-set win over Lincoln Memorial on Sept. 12. Born has six double-doubles in 2017
Murphy is fifth in the conference in assists per set 9.51 and has had just one match with fewer than 30. In nine of the team's 11 matches during the campaign, Murphy has notched a double-double.
For those unable to venture to Holt Fieldhouse, the Eagle Sports Network will have the full coverage via broadcast on cneagles.com/live with the sights, sounds and theatrics of 58th meeting between C-N and TC.
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