JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Tennessee Sports Writers Association has named Carson-Newman volleyball setter Blair Cherry its Player of the Week.

After an outstanding freshman season in 2023, Blair Cherry has only stepped up her game, collecting 179 assists through her first four matches of the season, and sits just 98 assists away from 1,000 career assists.

"[Blair] has been doing a great job being a threat on offense and giving her attackers great opportunities to score," Carson-Newman volleyball head coach Cat Collins said. "Her IQ and consistency means a lot to this team."

Cherry's sophomore season began on Friday afternoon against No. 6 Missouri-St. Louis, where she added up 49 assists and nine digs in the five-set effort. That evening, Cherry earned her first double-double of the season in a match against Harding with 42 assists and ten digs.

Cherry's standout match came in the final installment of the Union Volleyball Classic against the host Bulldogs. Cherry found her second double-double of the weekend with 50 assists and 12 digs, earning an early season-high of 10.5 points on Saturday afternoon.

Tuesday night, in the South Atlantic Conference opener against Lincoln Memorial, she added 38 more assists to her career total while adding four service aces, five kills, and seven digs against the Railsplitters.

Additionally, she is 251 assists away from passing Holly Barnham (1994) and Jennifer Hyde (1994-96) for ninth all-time in Carson-Newman career assists. To accomplish the feat, she needs just 10.9 assists per match for the remainder of the season, a task that should come easily to the excelling Cherry.

With Cherry's weekend efforts, she earned a SAC Offensive Player of the Week nomination, and she is now rewarded with being named the TSWA Player of the Week for September 10.

Blair returns to the court this Friday at 3:00 p.m. in a match against Francis Marion at the USC Aiken Invite. Over the weekend, Cherry and the Eagles will also take on USC Aiken, Montevallo, and No. 25 Augusta. You can follow along with Blair's progress this weekend on Instagram and X @CN_Eagles or Facebook by following the Carson-Newman Athletics page.