Tuesday tilt sends soaring Eagles to LMU
HARROGATE, Tenn. – After not playing a midweek match in nearly a month, Carson-Newman travels to Lincoln Memorial Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. first serve against Lincoln Memorial with its eyes on getting its winning streak to eight matches.
VIDEO: Sept. 24, 2019 Highlights v. LMU
HARROGATE, Tenn. – After not playing a midweek match in nearly a month, Carson-Newman travels to Lincoln Memorial Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. first serve against Lincoln Memorial with its eyes on getting its winning streak to eight matches.
"We just focus on the next one," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "Take it one game at a time and we don't think of the whole season. We focus on the day if it's practice or recovery or a game. We just have to stay focused on that one thing and that's how we are going to get through the rest of the season.
With seven straight wins, the Eagles have their longest streak since 2015 when the club did so twice. The last time the program won at least eight in-a-row was Oct. 7-25, 2014 when it won nine consecutive. It stands as tied for the 13th-longest active string in Division II.
Tuesday's meeting between the in-state rivals will be the 51st all-time affair with Lincoln Memorial (6-13, 5-7) leading 32-18. Carson-Newman (14-5, 8-4) is looking to complete a season sweep of the 'Splitters for the first time since 2014 and just the fourth since the two teams have been members of the SAC doing so in 2008 and 2009.
The Eagles have left Harrogate with wins in just six of their prior 25 journeys. However, two of the prior five wins for the program in the series have come at Mary Mars Gym, most recently taking a five-set triumph home on Oct. 24, 2017.
When the two programs squared off in Jefferson City on Sept. 24, the Eagles dominated as LMU posted a minus-.101 hitting clip (18-27-89) marking the first time a C-N foe hit below zero in 46 matches and 697 days when Catawba hit minus-.022 on Oct. 28, 2017. It was the lowest margin since Sept. 2, 2017 when Erskine hit minus-.151 (11-24-86). The Eagles posted 16 rejections in the outing, their highest output in three years.
Katie Parnell (Atlanta) led the charge at the net with a career-high 5.5 total blocks besting her previous margin of five set on Oct. 23, 2018 against Tusculum. She added three kills on five swings.
Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) chipped in nine kills to lead the offense adding five blocks assists, one of four players with at least that figure. Kendall Cooley (Castle Rock, Colo.) registered seven kills on 10 attacks without a mistake leading the team to a .337 hitting clip.
After sweeping Coker on Saturday, LMU is trying to win back-to-back games for the third time this season as the unit has lost five of the last seven. Despite the struggles, it has only been swept five times this year including twice by Wingate and once by USC Aiken.
The Railsplitters are hitting .143 as a team with 10.75 kills per set to rank in the bottom three in the conference in each area. They have posted a hitting percentage below their season average eight times hitting above .200 on four occasions.
The best are from a stats perspective for the team is team service aces per set posting 1.65 on average, sixth in the league with seven outings of at least eight in a match this year. Freshman Lauren Lask leads the way with 0.33.
Despite the offensive issues, Emily Walter ranks fourth in the league with 8.50 assists per set. She has nine double-doubles this season and at least 30 assists on 13 occasions including eight efforts with 40 helpers.
Video for the match will be provided by Lincoln Memorial by clicking here. Live stats can be found on cneagles.com/live with live updates coming on Twitter by following @CNathletics on Twitter.
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