ROCK HILL, S.C. - With four teams taking home first-place votes, Carson-Newman was selected fifth, the same as the team's 2021 finish, in the 2022 South Atlantic Conference preseason poll released by the league on Monday.
The Eagles have finished in the top four of the league standings in four of the last five years and six of the last eight proving to be one of the most consistent teams in the SAC. While the Orange and Blue will need to replace the powerful hammer of prolific right side Erin Edwards and the consistent setting of Taylor Rohr, Tiernan returns all six players that saw time in at least 100 sets in 2021.
Second-team All-SAC honoree Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) leads the team after a monster introduction to Mossy Creek. The outside hitter won the league's Player of the Week award twice and had six outings with at least 20 kills tallying one of the most dynamic seasons on the pins in school history. Joining Wheeler is setter and all-around weapon Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.), who flirted with a triple-double on multiple occasions. She finished with 14 double-doubles adding 39 aces and a kill per set.
Among the highlights of 2021, Carson-Newman won five straight road matches from Oct. 15 to Nov. 2. To find the last time the team had a streak of that length on the road, you have to go back to 2014 when it went undefeated in SAC road matches winning all 11 from Sept. 19 to Nov. 4, a five-set win over seventh-ranked Wingate.
Over the last three campaigns, the Eagles have used its home court advantage posting a 30-11 record with 15 sweeps. In the last 33 home outings the team has lost seven times with four of those occasions coming in five frames to Anderson, Queens, Mars Hill and Tusculum respectively.
Winners of two of the last six NCAA Southeast Region Championships, C-N has seven of its eight overall NCAA Tournament appearances as a program over the last 13 campaigns.
Wingate is projected to win the conference taking home six first-place votes while Tusculum (three), Anderson (two) and Lenoir-Rhyne (two) all received nods at the top of the table to round out the top four. There was a 25-point gap between C-N and Mars Hill with Newberry, Limestone, Catawba and Lincoln Memorial rounding out the top 10. Coker, UVA Wise and newcomer Emory & Henry finsh out the poll.
Carson-Newman opens its season on Friday, Aug. 26 versus Alabama Huntsville with the first of four matches from Trojan Fieldhouse in the Trevecca Tournament as the Eagles take flight for the first of a three-week road trip to begin the 2022 campaign.
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