October 20, 2025

Volleyball hosts Mars Hill in annual Dig Pink game looking to extend win streak

Having won three in a row, Carson-Newman volleyball returns home to host the team that ended their season in 2024.

Mars Hill

7-8,4-6 SAC

Carson-Newman

16-3,7-3 SAC

Final	1	2	3	T
Mars Hill 7-8,4-6 SAC	14	21	18	0
Carson-Newman 16-3,7-3 SAC	25	25	25	3

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Now on a three-game win streak, Carson-Newman volleyball returns home to host the team that ended their season in 2024.

Volleyball delivered a classic five-set win, taking Coker to extra points in the fifth set while Maddie Hurst and Blair Cherry set all-time records in kills and assists. Considering Coker had been on the winning side of four different five-set matches, they were the experienced team in this arena. However, the Eagles controlled the final points of set five, tallying their highest kill count of the year. The Eagles began with a set-one victory, and the teams traded sets until the end of the match. It took 6 extra points in the fifth set to settle.

The Eagle's 80 digs on the match were the most since September 19th against North Greenville. The effort on defense was led by four different C-N players who were in double-digits in the dig department. Ahsmuhs led the charge with 21, Trinity Hafey grabbed 18, Ehlers had 12, and Cherry logged 10.

Maddie Hurst had another career day. The sophomore has found her grove this week, landing a career high 23 kills in the match with a .366 hitting percentage. Her 23 kills in the match are the 12th highest all-time by an Eagle in a single match. With 38 kills on the week and a record-setting accuracy clip on Tuesday, Hurst seemed to unlock her potential for the 2025 Eagles' season.

With a .246 hitting percentage as a team, the Eagles have now hit over .200 in four straight matches. The Eagles' success at the net has been orchestrated by Cherry, who dished 61 assists in the game for a career high that bests her previous mark by six. This mark also ties the most assists in a single game by a Carson-Newman setter in the history of Eagles volleyball. With her 10 digs, she counts her team leading 34th double-double of her career.

Ahsmuhs also recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 21 digs for her 8th of the season. Dziczkowski landed 13 kills and marked her third game in a row with ten or more slams.

The Mars Hill Lions are 7-7 overall this season a 4-5 in the conference. They are in the midst of a two-game trip that began with Catawba on Friday and wraps up with this game in Jefferson City. Mars Hill was projected 6th in the SAC preseason poll and currently sits 6th in the SAC standings one game back of Tusculum. However, the Lions have two games in hand over the Pioneers.

Mars Hill has one of the best back row defenses in the SAC. As a team, they rank 2nd in the conference and 15th in the NCAA in digs per set. Their 18.31 digs per set clip is held firm by the efforts of two-time First Team All-SAC libero Laela Jimenez, who is 4th in the SAC and 33rd in the nation, averaging 5.06 digs per set. She is assisted by Ioana Poenaru who is 12th amongst SAC competitors in the category with 3.44 digs per set. Three more players on the Mars Hill roster also average two or more ups per set.

On the offense, Mars Hill ranks 8th in the SAC in kills per set (11.51) and 11th in hitting percentage (.148). The Lions are led by Poenaru, who is 7th among conference competitors in kills per set (3.16). MHU uses a litany of weapons, though. Kiera Links is the next best with 2.40 kills per set, while six other Lions average a kill or more per set. Mars Hill runs a six-two offense with Alyssa Kornegay and Mackenzie Schmucker who are both averaging at least 3.5 assists per set.

The Lions are coming fresh off a loss on Friday to Catawba. They were defeated in straight sets after the Catawba Indians hit .267 in the first set, recording a match-high 17 kills in the set. They continued their offensive momentum, hitting a match-high .342 in the second, going up 2-0 heading into the third. Mars Hill, in the third, knocked down a team-high 14 kills, but were unable to take the frame, falling to Catawba. Selma Vassdal led the Lions with 10 kills, hitting .500 on the night with zero errors on 20 swings. She added a team-high three blocks. Ioana Poenaru added nine kills and 11 digs while Brooke Hoffman chipped in offensively with six kills. Laela Jimenez led the team with 15 digs, while Alyssa Kornegay led Mars Hill with 16 assists, adding 10 digs for the double-double.

Mars Hill went 17-10 during the 2024 season, reaching the SAC Semifinals for the first time in over 10 years. They were eventually defeated by the #1 seed Wingate in straight sets. They were hot toward the end of the year, winning 12 of their last 14 matches which included an eight-game win streak. Their only two loses came at the hands of the nationally ranked No. 23 Wingate Bulldogs.

The semifinal appearance marked their first since 2011 and their tournament appearance marked their eighth straight. Mars Hill tied for third in the SAC, their highest finish in the league in over a decade.

On the defensive end, Laela Jimenez, an AVCA All-Southeast Region First Team selection, was also named to the 2024 D2CCA All-Southeast Region Second Team, marking her second straight year receiving that honor. She also grabbed AVCA honorable mention All-American honors. Jimenez, a native of Naples, Florida, was third in the nation in digs per set and helped lead the Lions to the top spot in the country as the team leads all others in Division II, averaging over 20 digs per set. The Lions put up a strong net presence, holding the best block in the SAC. Averaging 2.28 stuffs per set, Kaitlyn Grant and Nikkayla Stewart both ranked among the top 15 in the SAC in blocking.

Mars Hill was solid on offense as well, ranking top six in the conference in both kills per set and assists per set. Schmuker and Kornegay led the offense on the setting front, both ranking among the top 15 in the SAC in assists per set. Both setters were averaging at least four per frame. The Lions also were putting down 12.11 kills per set, good for 6th in the league. While no hitter stood out for Mars Hill, seven middles and outsides each averaged at least a kill per set throughout the season.

The Lions will be without six seniors and graduate students who helped with their semifinal run last year and will add a batch of eight new freshmen.

With a rich history, the Lions and Eagles will celebrate the diamond jubilee with this meeting. In the 75th meeting all-time between the Lions and Eagles, Mars Hill will look to creep toward leveling the series, as C-N leads 44-30. The matchup between Carson-Newman and Mars Hill dates back to 1992, when Carson-Newman lost the first all-time matchup in four sets. The Lions took a 6-2 lead maintained a strong lead through the '97 season before Carson-Newman tore up the Lions between 2000-2010. In that ten year span, C-N only lost one game to Mars Hill in five sets.

Despite the trend of success, Mars Hill has had C-N's number. The Eagles are 1-2 against Mars Hill in the Cat Collins era and have lost the last two matchups. The two losses occurred during the challenging final stretch of the 2024 season for C-N when they lost six in a row. Carson-Nemwan has won four of the last ten matchups. The Eagles are 21-12 at home against the Lions but exchanged losses at home last year. Mars Hill ended up winning the neutral site game at the end of the season in the SAC Championship Quarterfinals. The Eagles are 5-5 in neutral site games against Mars Hill and 18-13 on the road.

In the last match between these two teams, Mars Hill (17-9, 13-5 SAC)punched their ticket to the SAC semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade. Emerson Ahsmuhs (Placentia, Calif.) led Carson-Newman in kills with 11 as the only Eagle to surpass double-digits in the category. Blair Cherry (Knoxville, Tenn.) had the rare occurrence of being the only Eagle to tally an assist in the match, of which she had 34. She ended her season with six straight double-doubles and collected ten digs. Trinity Hafey (Grand Junction, Colo.) started the match at libero and led the Eagles in digs with 18. Addie Smith (Jonesborough, Tenn.) was the only other Eagle in double digits in digs, splitting time between defensive specialist and switching to middle blocker in the third set. Bella Cardello (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) had to start at middle blocker in place of Taylor Keeran, who was out with an injury and missed her lone match of the season. Cardello and Ahsmuhs led the team in blocks, each with three.

For the Lions, Skylar Ogden led all players with 12 kills, hitting .435 on the night. Poenaru ended the contest with nine kills and 15 digs, adding three blocks. Nikkayla Stewart had five kills on eight swings and led the Lions with five blocks. Five Lions recorded double-digit digs, led by Laela Jimenez's 16 on the night. Mackenzie Schmucker and Alyssa Kornegay each posted double-doubles. Schmucker had 13 digs and 12 assists while Kornegay led the Lions with 22 assists and 10 digs.

Tuesday's game will be dedicated to Dig Pink, a Sideout Foundation initiative. Per their website, the Side-Out Foundation has been laser-focused on a single goal: to help people living with metastatic breast cancer see more tomorrows. The Side-Out Foundation helps people with breast cancer regain control of their lives. They started their fundraising efforts through the sport of volleyball. The Executive Director and Founder, Rick Dunetz, was a high school volleyball coach when his mother, Gloria, was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Together he and his father, Bryant, decided to tell her story, and the story of all those with metastatic breast cancer, through dedicated volleyball matches across the U.S., where communities would rally and fundraise to support breast cancer research. This is how Dig Pink was born – and it is still a central program of The Side-Out Foundation. Carson-Newman will don pink jerseys and encourages spectators to wear pink to support the cause.

Last week was record-breaking for the Eagles. Against Tusculum, the Eagles crushed a single-game accuracy record, hitting .616 on the match. This beats a previous match high by nearly .200. On Friday against Coker, matched a 3rd place performance in single game team assists, a record previously set back in 2015. Their 74 kills against the Cobras also lands 3rd in the all-time single game kill performances. The last time a Carson-Newman team slammed home 70 kills was in 2000.

In the individual performance category, Maddie Hurst set records in both matches. Against Tusculum, With 15 kills, Hurst notched the third-highest single-game hitting percentage in C-N volleyball history (.636) and set her season high in kills. The sophomore found her grove this week, landing a career high 23 kills in the Coker match with a .366 hitting percentage. Her 23 kills in the match are the 12th highest all-time by an Eagle in a single match. The last time an Eagle had that many kills was in 2021 when Julia Wheeler accomplished the feat. The Eagles' success at the net has been orchestrated by Cherry, who dished 61 assists in the game for a career high that bests her previous mark by six. This mark also ties the most assists in a single game by a Carson-Newman setter in the history of Eagles volleyball. Abby Hildenbrand was the last Eagles' setter to hit that mark in 2021.

First serve between the Lions and Eagles is slated for 6:00 PM at Holt Fieldhouse. Follow along on FloSports.