MATCH NOTES

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Eagles will continue SAC play against the Wasps of Emory & Henry on the road.

Following a 2-2 weekend at the USC Aiken Invite, Carson-Newman (5-3, 1-0 SAC) travels to Emory to take on a reeling Emory & Henry (1-6, 0-1 SAC) team.

This is just the fifth meeting between the two squads, but the series history is lopsided, with the Eagles taking all four prior matches. Carson-Newman has defeated the Wasps in 12 of the 14 sets the two programs have played.

Emory & Henry is riding a two-match losing streak with two home losses to Southern Wesleyan and Mars Hill in its SAC opener. The Wasps' lone win came against Bluefield State, a sweep in front of the Wasp's home fans. Fifth-year senior Brianna Hogan is the top outside for E&H, having collected 55 kills through seven matches. Junior Logan Newberry is the top setter with 113 assists thus far, for 4.91 assists per set. Defensively, fifth-year Libby Bickelhaupt serves as the Wasps libero and has 99 digs throughout the season. She collected her 1,000^th career dig in the Wasps' last match against Mars Hill. The primary middle blocker for Emory & Henry is Gracyn Miller, who averages 0.81 blocks per set.

Carson-Newman started the season 4-1, following a season-opening loss to now-No. 4 Missouri-St. Louis went on a four-match winning streak, longer than any winning streak it had in 2023. Following losses to tournament host USC Aiken and No. 25 Augusta and a five-set win over Montevallo, Carson-Newman takes a 5-3 record into the bulk of its conference play.

The Eagles weekend featured a milestone from sophomore setter Blair Cherry, who surpassed 1,000 career assists on Saturday morning in the match against Montevallo in just her 37^th career match. She is now less than 100 assists away from breaking into the Carson-Newman All-Time Assists Leaders Top 10 list.

Cherry collected three double-doubles on the weekend. Ironically, the lone match in which she didn't record a double-double was her match against Montevallo, in which she surpassed the career milestone. She currently ranks 16th in Division II in assists, with 354.

Freshmen Emerson Ahsmuhs and Maddie Hurst are the only Eagles to have surpassed 100 kills on the season, with Ahsmuhs leading the charge at 115. The libero position has switched between the responsibility of Blake Cherry and Bennett McCombs. McCombs has collected 93 digs on the season, while Cherry has 104.

Up front, it's a one-two punch of middle blockers as Taylor Keeran and Maddie Hurst lead the blocks category. Hurst narrowly edges Keeran in total blocks with 30 over Keeran's 28.

First serve at the King Center in Emory, Virginia, is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Tuesday. Fans can watch on FloSports ($) with a subscription or follow along at @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram for live game updates throughout the match. Admission to the match is $5 for fans making the trip to the campus of Emory & Henry.