Feisty Eagles fasten division lead versus Lions
October 25, 2022

Feisty Eagles fasten division lead versus Lions

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After watching a 2-0 match lead slip through its grasp and falling behind 3-1 in the fifth, Carson-Newman muscled its way to a two-match lead in the Mountain Division of the South Atlantic Conference Tuesday at Holt Fieldhouse in a five-set victory over Mars Hill 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 11-25 and 15-11.

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Ashley Tiernan Interview

VIDEO: Abbey Hildenbrand Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After watching a 2-0 match lead slip through its grasp and falling behind 3-1 in the fifth, Carson-Newman muscled its way to a two-match lead in the Mountain Division of the South Atlantic Conference Tuesday at Holt Fieldhouse in a five-set victory over Mars Hill 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 11-25 and 15-11.

"For whatever reason the past couple years Mars Hill has been our kryptonite," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "I don't know if it's a brain block but they play defense like no other team that we play against. When you have a team like ours that offensively puts the ball down over and over and over again and they are getting defended, it really puts a damper on them as attackers."

It was the 17th time in the series history that the programs required a fifth set with the Eagles getting their eighth while snapping a three-match losing streak with their first win since 2014. Carson-Newman (22-4, 13-2) was 3-20 under Tiernan when posting a lower hitting percentage but toppled Mars Hill (15-7, 10-4) improving to 15-3 on Tuesday's under the mentor.

Abbey Hildenbrand (Parker, Colo.) guided the attack with 37 assists, 19 digs and five kills for her 12th double-double of the year posting a season high in scoops.

"We came together and were like let's communicate, be super energetic and excited and it worked for us," Hildenbrand said. "We were excited about every single point we earned no matter what it looked like."

Julia Wheeler (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) led the attack with a match-high 22 kills adding 16 digs and four block assists. Blake Cherry (Cookeville, Tenn.) added 10 smashes and a career-high 28 digs. Emmagrace Cobb (Greensboro, N.C.) recorded 10 kills with 5.5 total blocks.

Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) tallied a season-high 28 scoops and Carlee Allbaugh (Tallahassee, Fla.) chipped in a double-double with 13 assists and 13 digs.

Mars Hill opened the match winning five of the first seven but the Eagles found a rhythm reeling off a 19-5 scoring outburst to go on top 21-10. The Lions refused to go away chipping away before a 6-0 run made it 22-19. The home side won the final three points before a block by Wheeler and Skylor Weaver (Katy, Texas) clinched a 1-0 edge.

In the second stanza, the Lions won the first two points only to see the Eagles get six straight to seize the lead. While the visitors tied the score at 10, C-N had the answer getting the margin back to four. Mars Hill once again did not go quietly winning three in a row to pull within one only to see the home side win the final four capped by a block from Cherry and Cobb.

Mars used six blocks in the third set and tallied 11 kills before making an attack error using an 8-3 run to jump ahead 10-5. C-N closed the gap to two but the Lions reeled off a 9-3 run to go on top 22-14. The Eagles rattled off five straight to make it 23-20 but it was too big a mountain to climb falling on a service error.

Carson-Newman committed nine attack errors with seven kills a second set that featured the lowest point total by the club in a set for the year. An early 5-0 scoring put the Lions ahead 8-3. The Eagles were unable to trim the margin watching the Lions score seven straight to get to set point polishing it off on a kill from Grace Lilly.

After dropping three of the first four points in the fifth, the Eagles responded with a 6-1 surge forcing a Mars Hill timeout at 7-3. The Lions chiseled the margin down to two at 10-8 but the Eagles had the response closing it out on a blast by Wheeler.

Jana Cuk paced the visiting side of the net with 16 kills hitting .333 while Sarah Goddard added 14 with 19 digs. Grace Lilly pieced together 10 kills and 16 digs. Anchoring the specialists, Jordan Schmucker posted 40 assists and 27 digs and Laela Jimenez picked up 28 digs.

The Eagles return to action Friday at 7 p.m. against Limestone honoring three seniors. The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Follow along on Twitter and Instagram @CN_eagles for updates throughout the match.

- CN -

Match Notes Photos Video Live stats Box Score Box Score Preview