JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Eyeing a deep run in the 2022 South Atlantic Conference Tournament, top-seeded Carson-Newman opens postseason play with a 7 p.m. home quarterfinal contests against fourth-seeded Newberry Monday at Holt Fieldhouse.
The Orange and Blue are 35-29 in the SAC Tournament all-time including a trio of titles in 2000, 2002 and 2019. The Eagles have appeared in six championship outings in 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2017 and 2019 recording a 3-3 mark. Each victory for C-N has come in straight sets while the losses came to Wingate in three and four frames respectively and Queens in four.
Eight schools have won a SAC Tournament Championship since 1990. Of those eight programs, Mars Hill is the only team that have not won multiple titles. Wingate leads the way with 14 championships followed by six from Presbyterian, three by Catawba and Carson-Newman and a pair by Gardner-Webb and Lenoir-Rhyne.
Carson-Newman (25-4) had won its opening round matchup in six straight matches prior to losing to eventual tournament titlist Lenoir-Rhyne in 2021. Since the league moved to school sites for quarterfinal matchups in 2016, the Eagles are 4-0 when hosting the quarterfinals dropping one set in 2017 to fifth-seeded Tusculum.
While the Eagles and Newberry (14-14) have battled 51 times, the two programs have only met twice in the SAC Tournament with C-N sweeping meetings in 2001 and 2005. Overall, the Orange and Blue leads 41-10 and have won nine straight losing five total sets during a stretch that dates back to Sept. 15, 2017 when the Wolves won in five.
Coach Ashley Tiernan's team hit .240 in a sweep of the Wolves at Holt Fieldhouse on Sept. 23 as Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) produced a flawless effort on the pin with 14 kills hitting .452 adding 15 digs. Molly Langford (Olathe, Kan.) had a coming out party with eight kills after posting 13 to that point in the year.
Newberry is in the SAC Tournament for just the second time in the last six years looking for its first win since being the No. 3 seed in 2016 sweeping Catawba before losing in five sets to Lincoln Memorial in the semifinals. The program has never won a league title, either regular season or tournament, finishing in the top four twice in its history.
Coach Ross Kessler's team has won seven of its last 10 matches but only one of those wins came against a team with a winning record, at Mars Hill on Nov. 1. Nine of the team's 14 losses this year have come in straight sets.
Ranking in the middle of the pack in most areas, Avery Webb leads in the conference in service aces tallying 47 for the year and Baylor Herlehy is second in the league with 1.09 blocks per set. Webb has at least one ace in 25 of the team's 28 matches this year and multiple 15 times. Herlehy has five-plus blocks 10 times.
Fans can use their FloSports subscription or sign up for one to watch the every contest all season long. Follow along to @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
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