September 8, 2016

SAC play commences as Mars Hill journeys to the Creek

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Seeking its first win of the season, Carson-Newman opens the doors to Holt Fieldhouse Friday evening at 7 p.m. as Mars Hill makes the quick jaunt over from the Tar Heel State for the first match of South Atlantic Conference action for the two programs.

Mars Hill

1-3, 0-1 SAC

Carson-Newman

1-4, 1-0 SAC

Final	1	2	3	T
Mars Hill 1-3, 0-1 SAC	22	23	21	0
Carson-Newman 1-4, 1-0 SAC	25	25	25	3

VIDEO: Dave Franklin Interview

Carson-Newman Volleyball Match Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Seeking its first win of the season, Carson-Newman opens the doors to Holt Fieldhouse Friday evening at 7 p.m. as Mars Hill makes the quick jaunt over from the Tar Heel State for the first match of South Atlantic Conference action for the two programs.

"Watching the video from their first weekend to see what areas of offense we are going to need to attack them," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "We put a lot of focus into that this week. We need to take care of the little plays that may go unnoticed to the untrained eye that make big deals in the outcome of the match. We have been focusing on little details just to make sure we take advantage of our serve/serve receive game."

The Eagles are 10-14 in conference lidlifters all-time but hold a 13-11 mark in their first home conference match of the season during that span.

Carson-Newman (0-4) and Mars Hill (1-2) meet for the 58th time on the volleyball court with the Eagles holding a 36-21 advantage in the all-time series.

The Lions snapped a four-match losing streak in the series on Nov. 14, 2015, C-N's senior day, with a five-set stunner.

Carson-Newman had 60 kills hitting .189 with 92 digs, nine service aces and four blocks while Mars Hill ended the match with 48 kills on a .186 percentage with 86 digs, nine blocks and seven service aces.

Three returning Lions racked up 10 kills with Rebecca Butler's 10 kills and 13 digs and Lauren Hochstettler's 10 kills and 16 digs leading the way. Andie Russell had 27 assists and 11 digs.

The Lions finished the 2015 campaign with an 8-21 overall record and a 6-16 mark in league play to finish 11th in the SAC. The conference's coaches projected a 10th-place finish for the group this year.

Mars Hill began its 2016 season in the Columbus State Tournament where it was swept by Columbus State and Armstrong St. before rebounding to topple Emmanuel in straight sets.

The glaring hole in the statistics for Mars Hill is a total of six blocks in its three matches this year including being shutout in the stat against Armstrong State, who hit .436.

Senior Victoria Kaiser in the league leader in digs per set with a 6.63 mark after racking up 29 in the weekend finale. She had a match-high 22 scoops in the meeting at Holt Fieldhouse in 2015 and ranked third in the league with 4.98 digs per set.

The match will be broadcast on cneagles.com/live beginning five minutes before the first serve with a high definition video stream and a call of the play-by-play action from Mossy Creek.

- CN -