WINGATE, N.C – For the first time since Sept. 17, the Carson-Newman volleyball team fell in three straight sets, falling to the Wingate Bulldogs in three frames 22-25, 16-25 and 8-25, on the road on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Both teams traded points to begin the first set until Carson-Newman went on a quick 2-0 run to tie the set back at seven points apiece thanks to back-to-back Bulldog errors. Carson-Newman took their largest leads of the set with a 14-12 lead off a kill by Abbey Hildenbrand and a 15-13 lead off a Bulldog service error.
Wingate retook a 19-15 lead with a 4-0 run, thanks to two service aces by Taryn Price. Kills by Taylor Keeran and Erin Edwards cut the Bulldog lead to 19-18. The Dogs would go on a quick 4-0 lead to swell the advantage to 23-19, but kills by Hildenbrand and Blake Cherry cut the lead to 24-22.
Quin Sutphin ended the set for the Bulldogs with her second kill of the set to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Wingate committed three service errors while Carson-Newman committed five in the first set. The Bulldogs recorded three service aces in the first frame.
Both teams started the second set trading points, until a short 3-0 run by Wingate thanks to kills by Reese Blackely and Molly Lambillotte pushed the Bulldogs to an 11-8 lead. A kill by Hayden Barton cut the Wingate advantage down to 12-10, but a pair of errors by the Eagles gave the Dogs a 16-11 lead.
The two foes would struggle in the middle of the second set, with both teams committing back-to-back errors to make the Wingate lead 17-13, but three straight kills by the Dogs swelled the advantage to 20-13, forcing an Eagle timeout.
Back-to-back aces by Shannon Kasprak grew the Wingate lead to 23-13. Despite a short run by Carson-Newman, a kill by Lambillotte ended the set, giving the Bulldogs the 25-16 win and a 2-0 advantage heading into the third frame.
The Bulldogs hit .281 in the second set to Carson-Newman's paltry .083.
After falling behind 3-2 early in the third set, Wingate rattled off four straight points thanks to three errors by the Eagles and a service ace by the Dogs put them ahead 9-4. The Dogs continued to pour it on in the third set, recording three straight kills before a Taylor Adams kill stopped the scoring run with Wingate holding a 14-6 advantage.
Wingate kept the foot on the gas, recording a season high six service aces in the third set and hitting at an astounding .429 percentage, finishing the set on an 11-2 run to end the set with a 25-8 win and sweeping the Eagles 3-0.
The 17 point loss in the final set is the worst loss in a set this season for Carson-Newman, and is the first time the Eagles have been held to single digits in a set since falling to Queens on Oct. 4, 2019 in the fifth set of the match by a score of 15-4
Carson-Newman recorded eight errors in the final set, hitting -.071 for the set. The Eagles committed 19 attack errors and hit just .091 for the entire match. Taylor Keeran led the team with six kills, while Julia Wheeler and Erin Edwards recorded five kills apiece.
Sutphin led Wingate with 10 kills and two blocks. Marianna Warren and Taryn Price recorded three service aces each for the Bulldogs.
The Eagles return home to Holt Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 12 to take on Mars Hill for their annual Pink Out game. First serve is set for 6:00 P.M.
