VIDEO: 2018 SAC Quartefinal Highlights
HICKORY, N.C. – Producing one of its best months in years, Carson-Newman looks to finish October with a bang Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with a visit to the team directly behind it in the South Atlantic Conference standings, Lenoir-Rhyne.
Thanks to an eight-match winning streak, Carson-Newman (16-6, 10-5) is 9-2 in October looking to finish double-digit wins in a month for the first time since going 12-3 in October 2015. That month marked a fourth-straight month where the program won at least 10 matches.
This will be the first of two meetings in 11 days between the two programs in 2019 as C-N has controlled the series winning 38 of the first 64 including each of the last four. Lenoir-Rhyne (14-9, 9-6) is looking to avoid a five-match skid in the series for the first time since losing six in 2008-09.
Last year the teams met three times with C-N sweeping the final two affairs including a home match in the SAC Quarterfinals. Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) posted 29 total kills making just eight hitting errors. Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) registered 34 kills finishing with a pair of double-doubles.
On the back line, Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) racked up 105 digs over the three outings including her third-career 50-dig effort on Oct. 5 finishing with 51 in a five-set win.
The Eagles tallied 31 rejections across the three outings limiting the Bears to no better than a .121 hitting percentage forcing at least 22 hitting errors in every contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne finished fifth last season but stood steadily in sixth in the preseason poll. Taylor Prall, a two-time all-league selection, has posted nearly identical numbers over each of her first two years and has taken a step forward with the departure of first-team All-SAC outside Angelica Arroyo.
Prall has been named the SAC Player of the Week on three occasions during her junior campaign but struggled against the Eagles last year. She had a total of 18 smashes but hit just .071. In 2019, Prall is the conference's leader in kills per set with 3.77 ranking 37th in the country while hitting .226. The outside hitter has 16 matches with at least 10 kills including a career-high 30 in four sets against Mars Hill on Sept. 24.
The Bears had won three in-a-row prior to a five-set loss to Tusculum on Saturday. A loss on Tuesday would knock the club two matches behind the Eagles in the league standings. Coach Dave Markland's team has been better away from Shuford Gym with a 9-3 record in road/neutral matches versus a 5-6 mark at home.
L-R ranks in the top 20 in the country in two categories, blocks per set and digs per set. It has seven matches with double-digit rejections producing 2.37 per game while notching at least 60 digs in eight of the last nine outings.
Despite ranking the middle of the pack in hitting percentage, the unit has 13 contests with a .200 clip or better that includes three of the last four.
The Lenoir-Rhyne video team will produce the broadcast for Tuesday evening. Fans can access the link by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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