TOURNAMENT TIME! C-N seals No. 3 seed

Posted: Nov 13, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS – In the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championships for the ninth time, Carson-Newman locked in the No. 3 seed in the Southeast Region announced by the NCAA Sunday night. The Eagles will play sixth-seeded Flagler at noon on Friday in Wingate, N.C. at the top-seeded Bulldogs' Cuddy Arena.

"I'm just really excited that we made it in," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We've done a lot of things really well this year to get us to this spot in our season. We are excited to be in the tournament and excited for what the bracket looks like and going to take it one game at a time and see where that takes us."

In five of the last six journeys to the NCAA Playoffs, C-N has won at least one match including region titles in 2015 and 2019 defeating Armstrong State, Erskine and Lenoir-Rhyne en route to the National Quarterfinals in 2015 and Anderson, Flagler and Augusta in 2019.

Since 2015, no team in the Southeast region has won more region titles than the Eagles' two. The South Atlantic Conference has won three with Wingate snaring one and three Peach Belt clubs have earned a crown. C-N has eight of its nine overall NCAA Tournament appearances as a program over the last 14 campaigns.

Carson-Newman is playing in a regional at Wingate for the sixth time in program history doing so in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2019. The Eagles have been to at least the regional semifinals in each of the last three journeys winning the region at Cuddy Arena in 2019. All told, the Bulldogs are hosting for the ninth time in the last 14 years.

Overall, the club is 9-8 in the national playoffs. After losing five of its first eight NCAA Tournament matches, the Eagles are 6-3 in the dance since 2015 including a 6-1 mark against teams from the Southeast Region with the lone loss coming in St. Augustine, Fla. versus second-seeded Wingate in 2017, a five-set match.

The Eagles meet Flagler for the fourth time overall trailing 2-1 and third time in the NCAA Tournament. In a second-round tilt in 2010, the Saints collected a sweep. During C-N's region championship run in 2019, the Eagles toppled seventh-seeded Flagler in the regional semifinal in four sets.

In 2019, there was 31 ties and 16 lead changes in the four frames as the Orange and Blue recorded 60 kills and three players finish in double figures led by 17 from Megan Oldenburger. Morgan Ballard racked up 28 digs and Elena Vasquez and Taylor Rohr posted 26 and 20 assists respectively.

The Saints won their seventh Peach Belt Tournament and first since 2017 holding off USC Aiken in a five-set thriller on Saturday. Jordan Berglin was named the MVP of the tournament posting 12 kills and 11 digs in the final and 42 total.

This is the 11th time the program has reached the NCAA Tournament winning the region title in 2009, 2011 and 2017 advancing to the National Semifinals in 2009 before bowing out to West Texas A&M. The Saints are 8-6 against SAC teams in the postseason and have won at least one tournament match seven times.

TICKET PUNCHED!! ��️ @CarsonNewmanVB is in the @NCAADII Tournament field as the No. 3 seed. pic.twitter.com/4OAkdwUK8Q
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) November 14, 2022

Carson-Newman has its seventh 25-win season in the holster with the 27 overall wins tied for the fourth-most in the 34 years of the program. Four of the team's seven 25-win seasons have come in the last nine years.

With four all-conference selections, Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) leads the way ranking in the top 10 nationally in kills per set, points per set and total kills. Her 496 kills are the second-most in school history needing 27 more to break the single-season record while her 4.43 kills per set average paces the charts.

Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.) is one of the eight active Division II players with at least 3,000 career kills and 1,000 career assists notching 15 double-doubles for the year bringing her career tally to 48.

Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) is just shy of moving into the top 10 in school history for career digs with 1,136 for her three years. Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) has 52 aces for the year, one shy of cracking the top 10 while her 0.46 aces per set slot her at No. 8. Emmagrace Cobb (Greensboro, N.C.) is hitting .300 for the year, a tally that checks in at No. 10.

"We are going to play our hearts out every single day," Barton said. "We only have a couple more days left of the season so we want to continue to grow each and every day. I think it's going to be exciting going into the postseason."

In the other matchup on C-N's side of the bracket, second-seeded Augusta faces seventh-seeded UNC Pembroke, the champions of Conference Carolinas. Wingate, the top seed, plays eighth-seeded USC Aiken and fourth-seeded Anderson takes on fifth-seeded Lander.

Ticket information and other details will be released throughout the week. Follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter and visit cneagles.com for the latest updates on times and other information regarding the tournament.

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