AIKEN, S.C. – Carson-Newman splits matches with Francis Marion and USC Aiken on the first day of the USC Aiken Invite.

It was a day to note for individual statistics as Emerson Ahsmuhs recorded her first career double-double, Blake Cherry recorded her first of the season, and younger sister Blair kept going Blair Cherry things recording two double-doubles on the day.

Blair with her performances of 55 and 40 assists in the Francis Marion and USC Aiken matches, respectively, now sits just three assists away from 1,000 in her career. Extremely likely to cross the milestone in the first set of Saturday morning's match with Montevallo.

The Eagles (4-2, 1-0 SAC) took it's first match over Francis Marion in five sets before falling in the night cap, 3-1, to USC Aiken.

Francis Marion – The Eagles' offense came to life in the USC Aiken Invite opener as it combined for 70 kills in the five-set winning effort, the most in a match for Carson-Newman since 1,067 days prior in the Oct. 12, 2021 match against Mars Hill.

Leading the category individually was Emerson Ahsmuhs who landed 22 successful attacks, the most by an Eagle since Julia Wheeler last season against Emory & Henry.

Carson-Newman got off on the right foot taking the first set 25-19 over the Patriots on the back of a set-ending 6-1 run led by two service aces from Trinity Hafey.

Francis Marion would bounce back taking the second set 25-21. The Pats were able to get past the blockers hitting .323 in the set with Carson-Newman unable to record a block in the frame.

C-N got right back in front in the third, taking a commanding 25-17 set win off the back of 11 combined kills from Ahsmuhs and Maddie Hurst, and 17 of the 25 set points were assisted by Blair Cherry.

FMU took the fourth set in dominant fashion, 25-14, as the Eagles had no answers for the Patriots from the service line as the Pats collected seven in the set. The aces combined with eight attacking errors from C-N helped Francis Marion force a deciding fifth set.

In the final frame, Carson-Newman forced quick side-outs and hit .500 in the set to propel it to its third straight win over the Patriots and accomplish a feat Carson-Newman was unable to achieve last season, string together a four-match winning streak.

USC Aiken – After going the distance Francis Marion, the Eagles only had about 45 minutes to recover and prepare for their next match with tournament hosts, USC Aiken. The Pacers had beaten C-N twice last season and came into the match having only lost one match on the year.

The Cherry Sisters highlighted the Eagles' performance, each earning a double-double in the effort. Blair, a 40 assist, 13 dig double-double; while Blake earned a 12 kill, 16 dig double-double.

The well-rested-ness of the Pacers shined through as they took the first two sets of the match building to an early 2-0 lead. The first set saw USCA build as much as a 12-3 lead before Carson-Newman chipped away before tying the set at 20 apiece. The Pacers held on taking the first set. The second set was even closer with Carson-Newman only dropping it, 25-23. Carson-Newman again used long runs to get back into a set, but the Pacers held on.

The Eagles extended their season-opening streak of matches with a set won in the third set taking it 25-18 over the hosts. Maddie Hurst's five kills and three total blocks helped propel the Eagles to forcing a fourth set.

In the fourth, the Pacers were able to finish the job hitting .362 as a team in the set. Again, Carson-Newman made it close, pulling within a point of the Pacers at match point before an Emily Lammers kill handed the Eagles their second loss of the season.

Carson-Newman wraps up its trip to South Carolina on Saturday afternoon, taking Montevallo at 11:00 a.m. before having a few hours to rest and recover before taking on nationally-ranked No. 25 Augusta at 6:00 p.m. You can keep up from home by following @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook.