VIDEO: Dave Franklin Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Marnie Streeter racked up a season-high 18 kills and four players finished in double figures in kills but Carson-Newman let leads slip away losing in five frames to Queens 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-13, 4-15 Friday at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference play.
"They wanted to develop an identity of competitiveness," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "We are defining that by an event plus your response determines an outcome. We want to choose how we respond. Ninety percent of your thoughts are negative. You don't have a choice on whether they are but you chose how you want to respond. It was really good to see them show that identity. I thought we were competitive the whole night based on that definition."
Queens (9-3, 6-2) ended Carson-Newman's (7-5, 5-4) four-match home winning streak against SAC schools as Franklin's team had won eight of the last 10. The Royals are winners of six of the last eight in the series history.
Streeter stuffed the stat sheet producing a .153 attack percentage adding 27 digs, two aces and two blocks for her third double-double of the year. She was one of the three players on the Eagles side of the net to finish with a double-double.
Kendall Cooley (Castle Rock, Colo.) and Joy Rhodes (Youngsville, N.C.) each finished with 12 digs as Rhodes added nine scoops. Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) tacked on 10 smashes.
"I think the balance came down to the fact that we were able to pass the ball so our setters could distribute," Franklin said. "It was really good to us do that and see the kids take big swings."
Madison Rademacher (Broomfield, Colo.) tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 24 assists and 13 digs. Taylor Rohr (Windsor, Colo.) notched 20 assists and a career-high 15 digs. Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) picked up up 30 digs and had five assists.
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2⃣nd set, Queens lead 1-0 overall
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The final stat line for the Eagles read 55 kills, a .110 attack percentage with 13 blocks, 120 digs and four aces. The Royals finished well below their season average of hitting efficiency at .081, by far their lowest tally of the season. Queens racked up 46 kills, 111 digs and 10 blocks.
The opening set seemed to be going towards the home side in runaway fashion as C-N used a 7-1 burst to go on top 17-10. It was 20-14 in the late going when Queens found its stride winning 11 of the final 14 points including a 6-0 sequence with the Eagles ahead 22-18 capturing the first on a C-N service error.
In the second stanza, the two sides clashed to one of the tighter frames of the season featuring 17 ties, nine lead changes and no differentials of greater than two for either side. C-N held a 20-18 advantage only to concede six of the next eight points to fall behind 24-22. After winning a point, an attack error pinged the net to seal a 2-0 match lead for the visitors.
It was another tight tussle in the third with the two clubs all square at 17. Carson-Newman found a rhythm to win three straight to take the lead before finishing off eight of the final nine capping the set on a blast from Katie Parnell (Atlanta) to end a 5-0 run and stay in the match.
Franklin's crew ensured that the fourth frame was lopsided winning eight of the first 10 points including the final four in succession. The lead reached a match-high 12 points on a kill from Cooley to ended a 6-1 run in a game in which the home club tallied a .316 hitting percentage.
The Eagles could never gain traction in the fifth set losing each of the first six points and never getting closer than five the rest of the way. C-N had seven attack errors to just one kill in the set aided by two blocks from the Royals.
Coach Hannah Long's team was led by Casey Tarvin's 16 kills and 18 digs. Logan Witt mashed a .389 hitting percentage producing 15 kills adding 3.5 total rejections. No other Royal registered more than five kills as the rest of the team had 15 kills and 23 attack errors.
Mallory Swarts led all players with 36 assists picking up 18 digs. Chanel Turner gobbled up 28 scoops and JayCee Jones produced 24 on the night.
The Eagles are back on the court Saturday evening playing at 5 p.m. against Catawba inside of Holt Fieldhouse. Broadcast coverage is on cneagles.com/live thanks to the Eagle Sports Network.
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