VIDEO: Highlight Story versus Catawba
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman hosts the final match of a three-game homestand Tuesday night at 7 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse against Lincoln Memorial looking to bounce back after a five-set loss to Queens over the weekend.
"I want to see us grow," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "I don't expect us to be perfect. I don't expect us to peak. Even in a championship game, you don't expect it to be perfect. I do expect the emotions to be a little bit better. We are going to focus on that, train that and teach that then go from there."
While the Eagles dropped a match for the second time in 24 tries under Tiernan when leading 2-0, there is a silver lining. When it first happened on Oct. 25, 2019, Carson-Newman (2-4, 1-1) reeled off six straight wins and 13 of the next 14 to clinch both a South Atlantic Conference Tournament title and NCAA Southeast Region Championship.
The Orange and Blue have not lost back-to-back home matches since the 2017 season with a setback to Mars Hill on Oct. 31 and a loss to Wingate on Nov. 10, both coming in straight sets. In that season, the club rebounded by winning the next three to advance to the SAC Tournament Championship match.
C-N and Lincoln Memorial (1-5, 0-2) are facing off for the 53rd all-time meeting as the Eagles trail 32-20 in the series. After winning in five frames in the spring, Tiernan's club has won three straight since being swept at home by the Railsplitters on Nov. 2, 2018.
When the teams met in Harrogate in the spring, the Eagles fell behind 2-1 and were down 16-12 in the fourth set before winning five straight points. In a set that featured 10 ties and six lead changes, the program forced a fifth set. In the decisive affair, the Orange and Blue won 11 of the first 16 points to clinch the win.
Megan Oldenburger became the 14th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills in the contest racking up 20 smashes adding in 18 digs and four service aces. Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) was the only other Eagle to rack up double figure smashes shoving 13 to the ground while adding four block assists and a career-high seven digs.
The Railsplitters have lost four consecutive matches since winning their only game of the year, a five-set victory against Converse on Sept. 3. Each of the last three have been by a sweep with LMU losing 10 straight sets since winning the fourth against Auburn Montgomery on Sept. 4.
Tuesday will be the team's first true road test of the year. Lincoln Memorial is 6-11 away from home over the last two years with their last winning mark coming in 2018 when it went 6-4 and reached the regional to play versus USC Aiken.
Opponents have been ultra efficient this year with five of the six teams hitting at least .224 for a combined .252 hitting clip. Converse recorded the lowest tally posting a .192 hitting percentage. The 'Splitters are the only team in the conference to average below one block per set coming in at 0.91. On Saturday, the team failed to record one in a sweep against Catawba with a season-high nine coming against Auburn Montgomery.
On the attack, coach Alison Williams has seen her team post a respectable .181 hitting clip, good for seventh in the league having hit at least .135 in all but one match on the year. Four players are averaging at least two kills per set led by 2.50 from Ketura Margaret who had two total kills in the first two matches but has a pair of double figure efforts since.
Fans can swing by the arena to watch the contest or flip on the Eagle Sports Network's coverage by visiting cneagles.com/live for the high definition video stream.
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