September 11, 2025

CNVB: Volleyball eyes down important weekend at USC Aiken

With their first five victories of the year, Carson-Newman volleyball looks to build upon their early-season success with their first true test this weekend at USC Aiken. All four games the Eagles play will impact their regional ranking for NCAA tournament purposes.

Francis Marion

1-4,0-0 Conf. Caro.

Carson-Newman

6-0,1-0 SAC

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Francis Marion 1-4,0-0 Conf. Caro.	21	25	23	16	1
Carson-Newman 6-0,1-0 SAC	25	14	25	25	3

Carson-Newman

7-0

USC Aiken

2-3

Final	1	2	3	T
Carson-Newman 7-0	25	25	25	3
USC Aiken 2-3	16	21	16	0

Carson-Newman

8-0

Mount Olive

1-5

Final	1	2	3	T
Carson-Newman 8-0	25	25	25	3
Mount Olive 1-5	19	19	21	0

Carson-Newman

9-0

North Greenville

2-3

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Carson-Newman 9-0	22	25	25	25	3
North Greenville 2-3	25	17	14	17	1

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With their first five victories of the year, Carson-Newman volleyball looks to build upon their early-season success with their first true test this weekend at USC Aiken. All four games the Eagles play will impact their regional ranking for NCAA tournament purposes.

Carson-Newman downed UVA-Wise in four sets on Tuesday, dropping their first set of the 2025 season. Regardless, the Eagles showed resilience against the young UVA-Wise team to take over in set four and grab their fifth win in a row and the first SAC win since November 1st of 2024.

Defense was outstanding again for the Eagles, with 82 team digs and 11 total blocks. Trinity Hafey logged her first 20+ dig game in 2025, and Bella Cardello has now had 13 blocks in the last two games. Wise held the Eagles to their lowest team hitting percentage of the season (.190). Despite that, Emerson Ahsmuhs was unstoppable. With 18 kills and 16 digs, she logged her 3rd double-double of the season, while Maddie Hurst and Annie Dziczkowski both pitched in 9 kills.

As for this weekend at Aiken, the competition will be challenging.

The Scouting Report

Francis Marion - This season, the Patriots are 1-3 coming into the Aiken tournament. While their record doesn't show it, two of FMU's losses have come to teams that are ranked or receiving votes, and two losses have been in close five set battles. Their one win on the season was a three set sweep over USC Aiken at the Bulldog Classic last weekend. Despite the losses, the Patriots are 1st in the Conference Carolinas in total blocks (28.0) and team assists (170). Senior Caroline Lucas has been a wall at the net, leading the conference in blocks per set (1.25) and ranking 43 nationally in the category. Allison Miller has been the main weapon for FMU with a 3.19 kills per set clip.

Early last season the Eagles defeated FMU in 5 sets where the team collected 70 kills. Emerson Ahsmuhs was outstanding in her 5th game in an Eagles uniform with 22 kills. The fifth set was close in the early goings, but once Carson-Newman tied the score 4-4, the Eagles didn't trail again in the set. C-N struggled on serve receive in the match, with FMU notching 15 aces throughout. This will be the 12th meeting between the two teams where C-N leads 7-4.

USC Aiken - Aiken is 1-2 on the year with both losses ending in sweeps. Their lone win on the year was over SAC opponent Coker, who they took care of in four sets. Although they have struggled in their opening games, Aiken leads the Peach Belt in kills per set (12.30) and assists per set (12.20). Anna Sommer leads the team with 2.70 kills per set, is 2nd in the conference in blocks per set (1.00) and leads the PBC in hitting percentage (.355). Aiken has historically good results at their home event, having not lost a game in the USCA tournament since Sept. 7, 2018.

USC Aiken played spoiler to the Eagles' fun last year. C-N was on a 4-0 run coming into the game against the hosting Pacers, but were quickly humbled with a 3-1 loss. The visiting Eagles only had about 45 minutes to recover after their five set match with FMU. Aiken grabbed the first two sets of the match and would hold on after a 3rd set loss to win the match. The Eagles actually outpaced or matched USCA in nearly every statistical category (kills, assists, blocks, aces) and dominated on serve, with 12 aces. Hurst and Ahsmuhs both notched 13+ kill games, but would drop the match with 23 errors. Aiken does lead the history between these two teams 13-7 and hasn't lost at their home tournament in over 7 years.

Mount Olive - Mount Olive's 1-2 record includes a four set win against fellow SAC opponent Catawba, a three set loss to Florida Tech and a four set loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. The Spartans were 20-8 last season that ended in a Conference Carolinas semifinal loss. The Spartans are top 3 in the league in just two categories; blocks per set (1.82) and assists per set (11.55). Caroline Sheaffer is 22nd in the nation in aces per set (0.91) and Olivia Melvin leads the team with 3.09 kills per set, good for 6th in the conference. The Spartans lost three of their top four attackers from last season.

It's been 16 years since the Spartans and the Eagles have jousted on the volleyball court. The last matchup between the two teams was back in September of 2009 where Carson-Newman won the game in three sets. The Eagles hit an astounding .344 in the match, but were unblocked, out-served, and ended up taking extra points in the third set to obtain the victory. Outside of that, MOU has recently lost to Lenoir-Rhyne and defeated Catawba in four sets, which is the only gauge that C-N will have on this Spartans team.

North Greenville - The Trailblazers kicked off their season with a 2-1 weekend at their home invite. Their only loss was in five sets to Mars Hill. North Greenville has been great from the service line, averaging 2.67 aces per set. That leads the conference and ranks among the top 20, led by Anna Fiddelke, who's 21st in the nation with 0.92 per set. They rank third in the conference in kills per set (12.33) with both Peyton Taylor and Samantha Ball each averaging over 2.5 kills per set. They come into this match on a two-game victory streak.

North Greenville and the Eagles have squared off four times in their history, stretching back 17 years that they played for the first time in 2008. Their most recent battle was at the Aiken tournament back in 2023 where the Trailblazers swept C-N; each set had a score of 25-21. North Greenville was dominant on the attack with 49 kills while hitting .244 as a team. That was 14 more than the Eagles, who only hit .144. Anna Fiddelke had 10 kills for the Trailblazers and C-N's Trinity Hafey had 13 digs. Greenville has only won that match in the history of their matches.

The Eagles will take on Francis Marion at 3:00 PM and USC Aiken at 7:00 PM on Friday. On Saturday, they will face Mount Olive at 11:00 AM and North Greenville at 3:00 PM.