JACKSON, Tenn. – Carson-Newman played as many sets as possible on the first day of the season, playing two five-setters.
With a new captain at the ship's helm, Cat Collins earned her first career victory on day one of the Union University Volleyball Classic.
The Eagles began the season with their toughest test and were up to the challenge, pushing No. 6 Missouri-St. Louis to the brink. After falling behind two sets to none, Carson-Newman stormed back to force a decisive fifth set, which the Tritons eventually pulled away from.
The Eagles then earned their first win of the season in another five-set match in a win over Harding.
UMSL – After falling behind two sets to none to No. 6 Missouri-St. Louis, Carson-Newman rallied, taking sets three and four, 25-20 and 26-24.
A mix of veterans and fresh blood led the charge for C-N, Taylor Adams collected 11 kills and a team-high five service aces while Blake Cherry, in her first game back since a season-ending injury in the first match of the season in 2023, led the charge defensively with 17 digs.
Freshmen Annie Dziczkowski and Emerson Ahsmuhs were the standouts offensively, collecting 17 and 15 kills, respectively, while Sophomore Blair Cherry was an assist shy of 50 on the match.
The Eagles had an opportunity to secure the upset in the fifth set, holding as much as a five-point lead in the final set. However, the Tritons went on a five-point run to set up an eventual game-ending four-point run to take the set, 16-14.
Harding – After going the distance with nationally-ranked UMSL, the Eagles also went all five rounds with the Bisons, this time claiming the victory in five sets.
The victory marked the first win for Cat Collins as head coach of Carson-Newman volleyball.
C-N dominated in the odd-numbered sets, winning sets one, three, and five. However, in the sets the Eagles dropped, they did so in a non-competitive fashion, 25-13 and 25-12, respectively.
Carson-Newman never trailed in the first set and only fell behind 2-1 in the third before winning those sets 25-18 and 25-21, respectively.
The fifth set saw resilience from the Eagles, at one point trailing 7-3 in the first to 15 frame. With C-N leading 10-9, the Bisons' head coach called a timeout which sparked a brief fire for Harding before Carson-Newman ended the set on a 5-0 scoring run to take the set 15-11.
Again, the freshmen duo of Dziczkowski and Ahsmuhs led the way offensively with 12 kills apiece. Three Eagles tallied double-digit digs, with Blake Cherry topping the category with 19. Her younger sister Blair led C-N in assists with 42.
Maddie Hurst collected seven total blocks in the winning effort as well.
Carson-Newman wraps up its trip to Western Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, taking on tournament hosts Union (Tenn.) at 1:00 PM. Admission is free at Fred DeLay Gymnasium, and you can keep up from home by following @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook.
