ANDERSON, S.C. – Looking to make a journey back to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament match for the second straight season, third-seeded Carson-Newman hits the road to face second-seeded Anderson Thursday night at 7 p.m. from the Abney Athletic Center.
"There isn't one thing that we go into practice focusing on," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We have the skills. We have the discipline. We have all of the things that we have worked on all year since August. It's not going to be some miracle change to our system. We come in and we work hard. We were right there against Anderson when we played them last weekend so we know what we can do and what we are capable of doing. We are going to do the things that we can do right and go from there."
Carson-Newman (7-3) has appeared in two of the last three conference title contests and is looking to play in the final match of the year for the seventh time in program history. It has never made successive trips going twice in a three-year span on three separate occasions.
The Eagles will face off with Anderson (8-2) in the postseason for the fifth time in the last seven years after sweeping the Trojans in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Championships en route to a region crown. C-N has won the last three matchups with the lone win by the Trojans coming on Nov. 15, 2014. Of the three times the clubs have met in the league tournament, each match has needed five sets.
All told, Thursday evening will be the 30th all-time meeting with Anderson holding a 16-13 edge thanks to beating the Eagles in four frames on Saturday. The Orange and Blue are seeking their first win at the Abney Athletic Center a five-set SAC Quarterfinal win on Nov. 20, 2015, a span of four consecutive losses.
There were 29 ties and 15 lead changes in Saturday's match as the teams were separated by eight total points in the four sets. Each club posted an attack percentage of better than .200 as Anderson became the first team to hit above .250 against C-N since Wingate posted a .350 margin on Sept. 28, 2019.
Coach Todd Hay's team is the hottest team in the league riding an eight-match winning streak since opening the year with back-to-back losses. Wingate was the last team to beat the Trojans doing so on March 5, 34 days ago. Of those eight victories, only one has been a sweep with five by four sets and two in five.
After dropping the first set to Newberry on Tuesday evening, Anderson found its hitting rhythm averaging 16 kills per set hitting .283 in that time. Maya Learmonth led the way with 16 smashes as one of four players to finish in double figures on the night. Neely Shugart hit .579 with 13 blasts and Madison Roy handed out 51 assists with 10 assists.
Offensive efficiency is the key to the team's success with a combined average of .221 behind 13.71 kills per set with eight outings of at least a .200 effort. The team has posted at least 52 kills in every match on the year minus a 28-kill night in the loss to Wingate.
There will be a live stream and stats provided by the kind folks at Anderson for Thursday evening's match. Follow @CNathletics on Twitter to get the latest updates on the match with postgame reaction following the affair.
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