Road trip commences with early week affairs in Palmetto State
September 23, 2018

Road trip commences with early week affairs in Palmetto State

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Starting a five-match road trip, Carson-Newman, in the midst of a nine-day period with six games, ventures to Newberry for a rare Monday evening affair at 7 p.m. and Anderson on Tuesday at 6 p.m. looking to jumpstart a South Atlantic Conference winning streak.

Carson-Newman Game Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Starting a five-match road trip, Carson-Newman, in the midst of a nine-day period with six games, ventures to Newberry for a rare Monday evening affair at 7 p.m. and Anderson on Tuesday at 6 p.m. looking to jumpstart a South Atlantic Conference winning streak.

"We knew once we get into this stretch there isn't a lot of practice time," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "It's more maintenance because we have to recover. We have to treat our bodies right. We like the depth of our and we all believe that is a strength of ours. In this stretch, we are going to have to rely upon that. Kids are going to have to step up, take on quality points and sets so that we can keep everybody fresh."

With Hurricane Florence washing out a road trip to Newberry (6-6, 1-2) and Anderson (15-1, 6-0), Carson-Newman (5-4, 1-1) moved the contests to a Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 24-25. The meeting with the Wolves will mark the first time that C-N will play on a Monday since Nov. 7, 2005. It was a home match against King during the 30-point scoring era as the Eagles won in four sets. Kelli Sorensen finished with 20 kills on a .421 attack percentage.

The Eagles have controlled the all-time series against Newberry winning 34 of the 44 meetings but are 5-6 in the last 11 outings against the Wolves. C-N has lost back-to-back efforts at Eleazer Arena since a four-set win in 2015.

The Wolves are in the midst of a four-game homestand with each of the first three matches needing five sets. After dropping outings to Anderson and Lincoln Memorial, they took down Tusculum on Saturday.

Newberry has the best block in the league registering 2.27 per stanza, a mark that is top 15 in Division II in 2018, on the year having not had fewer than six blocks in a match this year.

Zoe Dinkins is leading the league in attack percentage, .363, and blocks per set, .151, notching at least on solo block and as many as 7.5 total blocks in a match.

Tuesday's affair with Anderson will be the 25th matchup of the two schools with each squad winning 12. The Trojans won both regular season outings before C-N halted their 22-match winning streak by winning 12 of the final 13 points down 20-13 in the fourth frame and hitting .529 in the fifth to advance to the SAC Tournament title match.

Riding one of the best winning streaks in the country, coach Todd Hay's group leads the SAC with six wins in as many tries on the year having won 11 in-a-row, one of the longest in the country. The only loss this year for the Trojans came against a team C-N swept, Augusta, on Aug. 31 in Charlotte when the Jaguars won in straight stanzas. The club has lost a total five frames during the 11-game string.

His group has won 20 straight home matches, the seventh-longest active tally in the nation. Its last loss in the friendly confines came on Oct. 18, 2016 when Newberry pulled out a sweep. Over the last three years, Anderson is 25-3 at home.

Offensively, the Trojans are second in the SAC with a .225 attack percentage and 13.85 kills per set on the season. Six times the team has hit above .300 while being limited to a mark below .200 just four times. Hannah Worsham and Hailee Wilhelm are tied for fourth in the conference with a .333 attack percentage.

Emily Conlin leads the league in assists per set with 11.71, a mark that is top 10 nationally. She has five straight matches with at least 33 helpers with three double-doubles in that span.

Newberry and Anderson will provide video links for the midweek affairs as fans can lock in on @CNathletics on Twitter for the latest updates, details and creative content.

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