ROCK HILL, S.C. – Megan Oldenburger was named first-team All-South Atlantic Conference Thursday announced by the league leading a trio of Carson-Newman players to earn yearly honors with Erin Edwards on the second team and Hayden Barton picking up a spot on the all-freshman roster.
Carson-Newman places multiple players on the top teams in the same year for a fourth consecutive season and 16th time in 32 years of a program. Three players take home all-league plaudits for the 13th time and fifth occasion of the last seven.
The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native gives the Eagles 25 first-team selections in the history of the program and on for the fourth straight season. She is an all-conference selection for the third time in her career being on the rookie roster in 2017 and the second unit in 2018.
Oldenburger produced her 1,000th career kill behind a team-high 20 smashes in a five-set win over Lincoln Memorial on March 26, 2021. She became the 14th player in history to hit quadruple digits. The senior is the fourth player to cross 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Jenna Rust is second in kills and fifth in digs, Kendra Rickersten is sixth and seventh while Melissa Miller ranks ninth and eight on the all-time list.
On the program's all-time ledger, she has tallied 1,045 smashes needing five more to move in 13th. The outside hitter has 1,237 scoops to rank ninth while her 121 service aces put her two behind of the No. 8 position.
The two-time SAC Player of the Week has five double-doubles this season and 41 for her career with 51 double-digit kill night and 53 efforts with at least 10 digs. She has led the team in kills on 43 occasions including eight times in 10 affairs as a senior.
With 3.54 kills per set in 2021, she ranks third in the conference in the category producing the second-most total kills with 138. She is second in the league with 17 service aces while her 132 total digs are good for 14th.
In a five-set victory over Queens in the second match of the season, Oldenburger tallied a career-high 24 kills posting a .300 hitting percentage with 14 digs. It was one of two night with 20-plus smashes adding 20 and 18 scoops in a five-set win at Lincoln Memorial on March 26.
Thor �� @oldenburgermeg
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 6, 2021
Bringing the hammer down
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Set 1
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Edwards earns a slot on the second club for the second year in a row after being the SAC Tournament MVP in 2019 adding all-region and all-region tournament team selections as a junior.
In her four seasons with the program, she has produced a .281 attack percentage, good for the fifth-best margin for a career in the history of the program. She has racked up 232 block assists to sit at No. 10 on the all-time list.
During the 2021 spring season, the Midlothian, Va. native has six matches with double-digit blasts to bring her career total to 33. She has at least 10 in four of her last six with a season-high 14 coming against Anderson on April 3.
Almost a .500 hitting pct for @erinedwards31 with 8 kills on 18 swings.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 6, 2021
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Set 3
C-N leads 2-0
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Just call her the ace of spades.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 2, 2021
.@hbarton12 with three straight aces gives the Eagles the early advantage.
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After sitting out the 2019 season using her redshirt campaign, Barton became one of the top liberos in the league this spring. The Hixson, Tenn. native is the ninth player in Mossy History lineage to be named an all-freshman selection and first since Oldenburger in 2017. Four of the first eight later became a first- or second-team All-SAC pick.
The rookie needed six career matches to produce her first career double-double of 22 digs and 10 assists in a five-set match at Mars Hill on March 20. She is the first libero since at least 2010 (as far as game logs go back) in program history to produce a double-double of any kind.
With 4.85 digs per set she ranks fourth in the league and her 189 total scoops are good for third. She has led the team in digs seven times with eight efforts in double figures including three with at least 20. The best outing of the came in a five-set win over Queens on March 5 where she produced 33 digs.
Showcasing her skills outside of being a top defensive stalwart, Barton ranked sixth in the league in total digs with 14, good for a 0.36 average racking up a season-high three in each of her last three affairs.
Carson-Newman continues it SAC Tournament run Thursday at 7 p.m. in Anderson, S.C. taking on second-seeded Anderson. The Eagles are seeking a trip to the title match for the third time in four years.
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