September 12, 2025

Emerson Ahsmuhs’ historic performance propels Eagles to two regional wins at the USC Aiken tournament

39 kills across two games from Emerson Ahsmuhs led the Eagles past both Francis Marion and USC Aiken. Carson-Newman’s 2-0 start at the Aiken tournament keeps them undefeated on the year.

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

AIKEN, S.C. – 39 kills across two games from Emerson Ahsmuhs led the Eagles past both Francis Marion and USC Aiken. Carson-Newman's 2-0 start at the Aiken tournament keeps them undefeated on the year.

Game 1 (Francis Marion) – The Eagles took a moment to find their stride in set one with three attack errors in a row that would put FMU up 4-0 right away. Slowly but surely, the Eagles would chip away at the deficit, finally tying things up 17-17. Three massive kills from Emerson Ahsmuhs would essentially end the set, putting the Eagles up 23-19. Despite a late timeout from the Patriots, Ahsmuhs and Cardello would silence any doubts with two punctuating kills. Carson-Newman would win set one 25-21.

Set two was a struggle for C-N, not being able to get in system thanks to three aces from the Patriots and 14 attack errors from the Eagles. Despite a few incredibly scrappy rallies from either side, FMU would come out on top in each of them. The Eagles never strung together more than three points in set two, with errors ending momentum. C-N would drop the set 14-25.

Set three was quite the opposite, where the Eagles put themselves in position early to succeed. C-N garnered a 5-0 lead thanks to kills from Ahsmuhs, Cardello and Maddie Hurst. FMU battled back into the set though. After two service aces and attack errors from the Eagles, the Patriots climbed back to a 14-10 lead. Ahsmuhs had grabbed her fourth double-double of the year moments later, and with few debilitating kills from Ahsmuhs, Hurst and Raychel Ehlers in her second game as an Eagles, C-N tied the score at 20. Hurst caught fire in the late goings of the set, grabbing three kills and a block in the final eight points of the set. FMU hung around till the last minute, but Ahsmuhs slammed the door with her 14th kill of the match. C-N would win set three 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead.

The Eagles serving has been good all season, and it finally kicked in it set four. With two aces early from Trinity Hafey and Blair Cherry, plus five kills from Ahsmuhs, the Eagles were up 10-5. Carson-Newman's exceptional hitting sent them rolling through set four. With a .455 clip as a team, Addie Smith led the way for the Eagles with 4 kills and a .571 percentage and Ahsmuhs dominated with eight kills in the fourth set.

Ahsmuhs shined for C-N with 22 kills and 26 digs for her fourth double-double of the season and marks the first time since last season a C-N player has notched 20 or more kills in a match. Ahsmuhs set the mark last season against Francis Marion and matched her 22 kill evening from that night. She also slots herself in the Carson-Newman history books with this performance, slotting herself tied for 5^th in kills in a four set match all-time.

Maddie Hurst was also exceptional with 12 kills and Hafey, Ehlers, and Addie Smith all wrangled 10 or more digs.

Head Coach Cat Collins said, "We came out a little slow. This team has a lot of talent and it was just a matter of finding the right pieces. I'm proud of the way players stepped into new roles and played great."

Game 2 (USC Aiken)- An hour later than scheduled, the Eagles began their second game. It was all Carson-Newman in set one of game two after they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Carson-Newman held the Pacers to a -.147 hitting clip, and capitalized with 12 kills to Aiken's five. The Eagles would take set one 25-16.

Roles reversed in set two, with the Pacers utilizing four attack errors from the Eagles to catapult themselves up 5-0. The Eagles would chip away though, with Ahsmuhs notching five kills to get the Eagles within one, 10-11. She would continue her onslaught, using well placed roll shots to bring C-N within one after her 10^th of the set. Addie Smith would capitalize on an attack error to ring the match up at 19. Following a Pacers timeout, Aiken lost four straight points after three kills from Dziczkowski and a big block from Bella Cardello and Addie Smith to make it 23-19. Dziczkowski and Hurst silenced the Aiken crowd with another block to end the set. C-N would go up 2-0 with a 25-21 set win.

The Eagles had a response for everything the Pacers threw their way. The Eagles outhit Aiken .387 to .088 and forced Aiken into seven errors. Carson-Newman's block was dominant, and a stuff from Hurst and Dziczkowski would end the set 25-16.

Ahsmuhs led the floor again with 17 kills while Hafey would lead the defense with 15 digs. Both Ahsmuhs and Cardello were solid on the front lines with 6 blocks a piece.

The sweep of Aiken marks the first loss the Pacers have suffered at their home tournament in seven years.

"We played a great match, beginning to end. Our blocking was phenomenal tonight. Big shout out to my assistants Jess (Moore) and Jordyn (Hamm). They've done a great job training our blocking and it showed tonight.

Carson-Newman now sits 7-0 and has garnered two significant regional wins. Tomorrow will continue their regional test when they square off with Mount Olive at 11 AM and North Greenville at 3 PM.