SAC play begins with home opener against Bears and Tornados
September 10, 2015

SAC play begins with home opener against Bears and Tornados

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – To begin their home slate and South Atlantic Conference schedule, the Carson-Newman Eagles (3-1) welcome the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (1-3) to Holt Fieldhouse Friday night at 7 p.m. and the Brevard Tornados (1-3) Saturday at 6 p.m.

VIDEO: Kirby Toribio Interview

Carson-Newman Volleyball Match Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – To begin their home slate and South Atlantic Conference schedule, the Carson-Newman Eagles (3-1) welcome the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (1-3) to Holt Fieldhouse Friday night at 7 p.m. and the Brevard Tornados (1-3) Saturday at 6 p.m.

"I've talked to a couple girls today," assistant coach Kirby Toribio said. "They keep saying 'I can't wait for this weekend' and 'I'm so excited for this weekend'. Playing at home is a ton of fun and of course we have the best fans. Our opponents are both really great teams, but we know that our fans are going to come out and give us a little of that extra advantage."

Carson-Newman began its season with a trio of victories in Michigan where three new starters shined for the Eagles. Senior outside hitter Molly Locke (College Grove, Tenn.) was named the league's Player of the Week after piling up 52 kills and 55 digs with a .222 attack percentage.

Sophomore setter Anna Patton (Franklin, Tenn.) racked up her first career double-double with 46 assists and 18 digs in a victory over Lock Haven. Patton averaged 10.60 assists per set, good for second in the conference after a week of play.

Freshman middle blocker Natalie Harris (Monroe, N.C.) recorded double-double kills in two matches including the season opener while hitting .322 over the weekend. It marked the first time since August 29, 2001 that a true freshman had double-digit kills in a season opener when Jenna Rust had 12 against Union (Ky.). Rust is second in program history with 1,572 kills.

"We challenged the team," Toribio said. "They responded really well. The middles stepped up to the plate and started running some different things. We had been working hard on some things in practice on their arm-work and footwork on those different approaches."

The Bears began the year at the Queens Fall Invitational being swept by GRU Augusta, Lander and Montevallo while sweeping Mount Olive. Lenoir-Rhyne was the No. 7 seed in the Southeast Regional Tournament losing in four sets to Armstrong State.

Setter Briana Gottberg is a preseason first-team All-SAC selection and piled up 9.17 assists per set to begin the year. She had a pair of matches with double-doubles, 25 assists and 16 digs versus Lander and 26 assists and 21 digs versus Mount Olive.

Reigning Freshman of the Year Brooke Redmond had just one match of double-digit kills to begin the season with 10 in a loss to Montevallo while hitting .313.

Carson-Newman leads the all-time series with Lenoir-Rhyne 29-18, but the Eagles have lost five of the last six meetings. L-R handed C-N one its two SAC losses on October 25, 2014 at Holt Fieldhouse in five sets. L-R hit .259 in the victory.

The Eagles were outhit in the match .259 to .246 as Jenna Wilson led all players with 20 kills and Kristen Pickett racked up 58 assists.

For the Bears, Gottberg had a double-double with 33 assists and 12 digs while Redmond chipped in 11 kills and 10 digs.

"L-R is a great team," Toribio said. "They were great last year and they played an incredible match against us. They are very well-coached and they are a great team this year. They have a lot of returners so we expect them to look just as great as they did last year."

Brevard has a new head coach, Anna Wagner, who was an assistant at Appalachian State the prior two seasons. Wagner played at Florida Gulf Coast for a season.

The Tornados picked up a sweep over UVA-Wise while falling in five sets to Erskine and being swept by USC Aiken and Armstrong State to begin the year.

Preseason second-team All-SAC pick Aleksandra Vrvillo is third in the league with 5.07 digs per set picking up a season-high 27 against Erskine.

Rachel Ruble hit .338 with a 32 kills to lead the offensive attack for Brevard in its first weekend of competition.

The Eagles have never lost a match to Brevard going 17-0 all-time winning both matches in 2014 in four sets. The last meeting came at Holt Fieldhouse on October 24, 2014 where Carson-Newman hit .213 compared to Brevard's .099.

Three Eagles tallied double figure kill nights led by 12 from Lauren Santarelli and Jenna Wilson.

Vrvillo had a match-high 28 digs to pace Brevard while Ruble had 11 kills and three solo blocks.

Each game will be broadcast in high definition by visiting cneagles.com/live courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network with pregame coverage beginning five minutes prior to first serve.

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