VIDEO: Hitters Preview with Taylor Adams and Blake Cherry
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Seven outside and opposite hitters highlight Carson-Newman's volleyball roster.
Following the departure of one of the greatest outsides in program history in Julia Wheeler, Cat Collins and Carson-Newman volleyball are searching for who will be the next to step up as the big hitter.
"Julia had a huge role last season" senior Taylor Adams said. "I feel like these girls have pushed me to fill that role like Julia did."
Taylor Adams (Covington, Ga.), Paige Bussom (Simpsonville, S.C.), and Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) return to the Eagles roster for 2024.
Cherry returns to the lineup after an injury in the first match of the 2023 season sidelined her for the remainder of the year. Only getting to share the court that singular game with her younger sister Blair, she will look to make up for lost time this season. Back in 2022 Cherry accumulated 256 kills for 2.23 kills per set, but got most of her statistics defensively, racking up over 350 digs in each of her first two seasons in Mossy Creek.
"I'm so excited. I got to be on the bench after getting hurt last season. I got to learn a lot" Cherry said. "[Blair and I] played together in high school, coming back from that, and getting to reignite that spark we didn't get to see very much last season, I'm very excited for that."
Adams was Julia Wheeler's right-hand-woman last season and was the only Eagle not named Wheeler to lead the team in kills in multiple matches. She smashed her career-high for kills in a single match last season with 18 in a win over Emory & Henry, and showed out on the service line with a seven service ace performance against Mars Hill.
Bussom has the least experience on the floor of the three returning hitters, only appearing in four sets across three matches in 2023. She had two kills, both coming in the Bemidji State match.
Joining the returning outsides and opposites are four newcomers, two freshmen and two transfers. The freshmen include Annie Dziczkowski of Aiken, S.C. and Emerson Ahsmuhs of Placentia, Calif. Transferring into Mossy Creek are Kylee Oldenburger of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Bahar Kurtulus of Ankara, Turkey.
Dziczkowski makes her collegiate debut after being named the South Carolina Class 4AAAA Region and State Player of the Year en route to the South Aiken Thoroughbreds claiming the state title.
Ahsmuhs makes the journey of over 2,000 miles to get to Mossy Creek from Southern California. Her senior year at El Dorado High School she collected 378 kills, 92 service aces and a .414 hitting percentage. She joins Carson-Newman after being ranked the 19th best prospect in SoCal.
"These girls are really talented, they have really strong arms and they're really aggressive on the court" Adams said. "It's just a privilege to be able to be older than them, and be able to mentor them and show them the ways. But, they have so much talent already that it's amazing to see"
Oldenburger is a name that may be familiar to Carson-Newman volleyball fans as Kylee's older sister -played for the Eagles from 2017-21. Oldenburger transfers in after four years at Upper Iowa where she averaged 1.11 kills per set in 32 career matches played.
Kurtulus is a true opposite hitter and transfers in from UNC-Asheville, previously attending the University of Cincinnati. Originally, she hails from Ankara, Turkey becoming the first internationally born student-athlete in program history. At UNC-Asheville she only saw playing time in 2022 where she averaged 0.97 kills per set in 32 sets played for the Bulldogs.
The outsides and opposites hit the floor for the first time this year on Sept. 6 against Missouri-St. Louis at the Union Volleyball Classic in Jackson, Tenn.
