Eagles venture away from home for King University Invitational
September 12, 2013

Eagles venture away from home for King University Invitational

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman (2-2) volleyball team makes its first trek away from Holt Fieldhouse beginning Friday afternoon in the King University Invitational. The Eagles will participate in four games in Bristol, Tenn. this weekend.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman (2-2) volleyball team makes its first trek away from Holt Fieldhouse beginning Friday afternoon in the King University Invitational. The Eagles will participate in four games in Bristol, Tenn. this weekend.

After winning its first two matches of the season, Carson-Newman has dropped its last two including the first SAC game of the season against Tusculum on Tuesday night.

"It's more of challenging the team in practice to be more aggressive and more tenacious," head coach Shannon Mincey said. "The defense needs to dive after that ball just a little bit better and a little bit quicker."

Junior Rachel Harper is tied for second in the SAC averaging four kills per set having put away 60 balls through the first four contests.

Junior Kristen Pickett is fourth in the conference in the assists per set dishing out 9.20 per frame.

Freshman JaLesa Beaver and Sophomore Kiayna O'Neal are in fourth place with a 0.93 blocks per set average.

The Eagles rank in the top five in the South Atlantic Conference in blocks (31, 3rd), hitting percentage (.222, 4th) and service aces (29, 4th).

Southern Wesleyan gets things started for the Eagles with first serve slated for Friday at noon. The Warriors have won seven of their last eight matches, including five sweeps in that time period. Junior Cherilyn Ramsey has led the way so far for Julia Reininga's crew as the middle blocker has racked up 169 kills and a team-best .349 hitting percentage.

Game two pits the host school, King University (1-3), against Carson-Newman at 4:30 Friday afternoon. The Tornado have been paced by junior Summer Kremer's 2.94 kills per set and senior Kelsey Griffitts' .366 hitting percentage.

North Greenville University (1-2) awaits the Eagles in the first game of Saturday with the start time set for 10 a.m. The Crusaders have leaned on sophomore Yomi Adeyeye, who has almost 30 more attacks than anyone else on the roster. Adeyeye averages three kills per set with a .232 attack percentage.

The King Univesity Invitational is capped by a match against Lees-McRae (0-4) with the match starting at 2:30 on Saturday. The Bobcats are hitting just .032 this season as a team while yielding a .193 clip to their opponents.

Carson-Newman is looking to prevent its record from falling under .500 for the first time this season.