JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - On day one of the USC Aiken Invitational, Carson-Newman saw North Greenville and Augusta. Both ended in defeat of the Eagles in three sets.
C-N vs NGU (21-25, 21-25, 21-25)
Set one was a back and forth battle between the Eagles and the Crusaders. C-N led the entire first half of the set, tied for the first time at 7-7. NGU caught their first lead on C-N at a score of 12-11. After four more tied scores, the Eagles managed to jump a point ahead at 21-20, but lost the lead while NGU ran a five point scoring streak to ultimately take the match.
North Greenville dominated the second set, not giving up the lead once for the entire 46 points played. C-N tied up with the Crusaders one single at the beginning of the set, 1-1. NGU kept a safe distance from the Eagles, earning the highest marginal difference of seven points at 22-15. Carson-Newman was able to close the gap to only four points, but North Greenville shut down their scoring run and won set two by four points.
The final set looked similar to the prior, with NGU leading the entirety of play and only seeing one tied score very early on. North Greenville kept the Eagles a safe distance behind them, though C-N managed to creep up towards the end of the set. In parallel to set two, C-N was down 15-22, pulled in a few points to 18-23, then lost the set 21-25.
C-N vs Augusta (15-25, 22-25, 17-25)
The Eagles started strong in set one, earning a three point lead over Augusta early on. The Jaguars then jumped on a seven point scoring run to gain a five point lead over Carson-Newman. Despite efforts to gain some points back, Augusta took the first set 25-15.
In the second set of the match, Carson-Newman and Augusta traded scoring runs until they capped at 25-22 in favor of Augusta. In a true display of C-N's resiliency, the Eagle's fought back from a 9-17 deficit to tie up at 17-17. The nine point scoring run was highlighted by two kills from Taylor Adams and two service aces from Bennett McCombs.
The final set of the match began evenly until Augusta nabbed four points in a row to gain the first significant lead. Carson-Newman could not break the deficit to less than two points for the remainder of play.
Taylor Adams led the squad in kills against Augusta with nine, nearly reaching a career high. Carlee Allbaugh led in assists, tallying 16, while Bennett McCombs rolled in 11 digs to lead defensively.
Carson-Newman will see Belmont Abbey at 11 AM and USC Aiken at 5 PM tomorrow. Due to how USC Aiken's gyms are set up, only matches on court one will be broadcasted. Therefore, only the match at 5 PM can be watched live. Same goes for lives stats.
