WINGATE, N.C. – Abbey Hildenbrand recorded her 1,000th career dig as Carson-Newman battled against No. 22 Wingate Friday night in South Atlantic Conference action but fell in four frames, 20-25, 17-25, 25-22, 27-29, inside of Cuddy Arena.
"We played a great match and I couldn't have asked for more effort from my team," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We made some big errors in big moments that hurt our momentum but that's the name of the game. We will see them again and we will be ready for a different outcome."
Carson-Newman's (17-3, 9-2) seven-match winning streak gets snapped as the Eagles fall to 3-10 against top 25 teams since the start of the 2014 campaign. Wingate (22-1, 13-0) topples C-N after dropping two of the last three in the series but improved to 28-5 at home in the matchup.
Hildenbrand posted a double-double with 35 assists, 10 digs adding five kills. Tallying her 3,000th career assist on Sept. 24, the Parker, Colo. native reached quadruple digits with the scoops on Friday to become the eighth active Division II player to reach 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs for a career.
3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Assists
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) October 15, 2022
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Digs
Congratulations to @CarsonNewmanVB's @abbeyh65. The senior became the 8️⃣th active @NCAADII player to hit those marks in a career. pic.twitter.com/KVKi2Nv3aT
Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) led all players with 20 kills racking up a .286 hitting percentage, the fourth time this season she has posted at least 20 smashes. However the rest of the team tallied 29 kills and 22 attack errors.
Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) added nine kills and a match-high 16 digs with three aces. Emmagrace Cobb (Greensboro, Tenn.) chipped in two solo blocks and a block assist.
The Eagles came out of the gates firing winning each of the first four points of the match holding a lead until the Bulldogs tied the score at nine. The teams went back-and-forth tying the tally at 18 apiece before Wingate won five straight and clinched the opening game on a C-N attack error.
Wingate flipped the script in the second stanza reeling off five of the first six points and eight of the opening 11. The Eagles were able to get within two points twice but seven attack errors and seven kills was too much to overcome falling in a 2-0 hole.
After the teams traded blow through the first third of the third set, the visitors broke a 9-9 tie by winning six of the next seven to jump ahead 15-10 on a kill from Wheeler. The Eagles held the margin with Cobb punctuating the set with a block to keep the unit alive and force a fourth set.
In the fourth, the top two teams in the league battled each other in a classic set. Trailing 19-18, the Eagles won five of the next six to jump ahead 23-20. After a kill from Skylor Weaver (Katy, Texas), C-N reached set point at 24-22 but a service error allowed the Bulldogs to seize momentum winning three in a row to get to match point. It took four match points before Wingate sealed the match on a reactive punch by Cherry that went out of play.
Wingate extended the second-longest winning streak in the country across all levels to 20 matches requiring four sets for just the fifth time in a match this year. The Bulldogs are now 101-3 at home since the start of 2015.
Three Bulldogs recorded 13 kills with Molly Lambillotte chipping in 11 digs, three total blocks while hitting .542. Gabby Saye and Emily Johnson each added 13 blasts. Shannon Kasprak filled up the stat sheet with 56 assists, 11 digs and seven kills as the Bulldogs hit .318 as a group for the match.
The Eagles are back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Coker. Fans can use their FloSports subscription or sign up for one to watch every contest all season long. Follow along to @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
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