JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman volleyball (23-4, 14-2) sent its three seniors out the right way, sweeping Limestone (9-9, 6-9) on Friday night inside Holt fieldhouse.
"Lots of tears, waterproof mascara across the board today," Carson-Newman head coach Ashley Tiernan said. "Those three seniors are in the 1,000 club and Julia (Wheeler) is very close to it. Program wise, they are huge huge assets to us. Personality wise, they are even bigger. Those three are the true definition of what God's word means and they are so spiritually ingrained. They really lead this team, not just as great athletes, but as great humans and really make sure we glorify God no matter what we do. They've taught me a lot. Exciting day for the win, more exciting to really celebrate these three because they mean so much personally to me."
In the opening set, Limestone scored four consecutive points to tie the first set at 19 forcing an Eagles timeout. The two teams went back and forth, and the match was tied at 23. C-N prevailed as Limestone made an attack error, and then Blake Cherry sent over her fifth kill of the set to give the Eagles the 25-23 set victory.
The Eagles picked up where they left off in set one and scored four of the first five points in the second set. Limestone scored the first point before the Eagles rattled off six straight points and never surrendered the lead to go up 2-0.
C-N built its largest lead in the third set, at 13-8 after back-to-back attack errors by the Saints and never looked back from there. The Eagles scored the final four points of the match to sweep the Saints on Senior day.
The Eagles got a balanced effort in the final home regular season game of the season. Senior Julia Wheeler and sophomore Taylor Keeran both had a team-high 10 kills to pace the Eagles offense. Keeran hit at a .444 clip in the win. Blake Cherry recorded nine kills as well.
"I think everything was just clicking today, Keeran said. "The defense was really killing it and then we had great sets from both of our setters and our hitters were really ready to execute today."
Senior Abbey Hildenbrand recorded a double-double and flirted with a triple-double. She recorded a team-high 24 assists and was one of four Eagles with double-digit digs in the win.
Skylor Weaver and EmmaGrace Cobb led the way up front, each recording a team-high five blocks in the win. C-N recorded 10 blocks as a team. It's the second consecutive match that C-N has recorded double-digit blocks as a team. Cobb and Weaver both had four kills on eight attacks as well.
C-N held Limestone to a .108 hit percentage in the match. The Eagles had an attacking percentage at .324 in the win.
The Eagles return to the court on Tuesday Nov. 1 for a road match against Emory & Henry.
The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Follow along on Twitter and Instagram @CN_eagles for updates throughout the match.
