ROCK HILL, S.C. - As the South Atlantic Conference released its volleyball preseason teams on Monday, Julia Wheeler and Abbey Hildenbrand represented Carson-Newman on the first- and third-teams respectively entering the 2022 slate.
For the fifth year in a row, the Eagles have multiple players selected prior to the year. Players from seven teams in the conference were given preseason honors with six of the seven producing at least a pair of athletes.
Wheeler, an all-region pick and second-team All-SAC selection in 2021, was the ninth player in program history to earn the laurel from the AVCA and first since Morgan Ballard was touted in 2018. She became the first outside hitter to take home the plaudit since Rachel Harper in 2014. All told she is the 11th player to be named all-region by a publication.
The second-team All-South Atlantic Conference selection put together one of the best seasons by an outside hitter in school history ranking ninth in the country with 433 total kills, one off of the top 10 for a single year in C-N history, sitting in third in the league with 3.46 kills per set. For the year, the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native posted 23 matches with at least 10 smashes including six with 20 or more. She has led the team in kills 21 times.
The two-time SAC Offensive Player of the Week has put her name in the record books with eye-popping performances. In a five-set loss at Union on Sept. 18, the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native finished with 25 kills hitting .240 adding 13 digs. It was the third time in the last decade that an Eagle produced 25-plus smashes and first since Molly Locke on Nov. 20, 2015 had 25 against Anderson, a span of 153 matches and 2,153 days prior.
Wheeler produced 27 kills on a .219 clip with 15 digs and two block assists on Oct. 12 against Mars Hill. The outside hitter reset her career high joining Molly Locke as the only players with two, 25-kill nights in the same season. The Murfreesboro, Tenn. native tied Locke for the second-most kills in a match since 2004 as Locke also had 27 against Quincy on Sept. 4. Carly Mozgai holds the program record for kills in a match with 29 in five sets on Nov. 12, 2010 against Catawba.
After crushing 26 balls on a .333 margin at Newberry in the next match, she finished with 23 blasts on a .367 percentage in a win at regular-season champion Anderson on Oct. 16 to become the first player in recorded history (since 2004) to achieve that mark. There had only been two occasions with back-to-back nights of 20 smashes with Kelli Sorensen producing 20 each against Wingate and Catawba on Oct. 8-9, 2004 and Rachel Harper having 21 apiece against Catawba and Queens on Oct. 4-5, 2013.
For the year, the outside hitter recorded 14 double-doubles tacking on 2.75 digs per set and 34 aces. With 1,309 attacks, a mark that is fifth on the program's single-season list, she is in the top 10 nationally in swings leading the Eagles in the area 26 times including in each of the final 15 matches of the year.
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Few players in the country could match the versatility of the Louisiana Tech transfer in year one at Mossy Creek. The senior led the team in assists in every single game putting up a team-leading 15 double-doubles with 11 matches of at least 40 assists and 15 double-digit dig efforts. On top of those numbers, she added 126 kills, a team-high 39 aces and 46 overall blocks. Among a variety of stat-sheet stuffing affairs, the Parker, Colo. finished one smash shy of a triple-double against Lincoln Memorial on Sept. 14.
The setter posted her first double-double of the year in a four-set win over Converse on Sept. 4 with 39 assists and 10 digs and filled up the stat sheet in a win over Catawba on Sept. 10 with 40 assists, 10 digs, seven kills, three aces and three block assists. A day later, the Coloardo native registered 47 assists with six kills and six digs against Queens on Sept. 11 and finished a kill shy of a triple-double in a five-set win over LMU on Sept. 14 with 41 assists, 11 digs and nine smashes.
To open the month of October, she logged a career-high 10 kills with 29 assists at Coker on Oct. 8 and put up an eye-popping 61 assists, 15 digs and six kills versus Mars Hill on Oct. 12. No C-N setter had more than 50 helpers since 2017 as the senior is the first Eagle with 60-plus assists since Anna Patton recorded 61 versus Augusta on Oct. 14, 2016, 140 games and 1,848 days prior.
The season starts in 11 days for coach Ashley Tiernan's troops as the Eagles start the year with four matches in two days at Trevecca Nazaren's Trojan Fieldhouse in the Music City. The first match of 2022 is scheduled for noon on Aug. 26 against Alabama Huntsville.
