Cat Collins unveils challenging 2026-27 slate with new conference format
With the South Atlantic Conference’s change in schedule format, Collins has tailored the season’s schedule to challenge her group of experienced players.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With the South Atlantic Conference's change in schedule format, Collins has tailored the season's schedule to challenge her group of experienced players.
In the 2025-26 season, Cat Collins' young group made history as the 19th Eagles volleyball team to reach the NCAA Tournament. With the next season just over the horizon, Collins expects her group to be right back in that spot.
"This group has a lot of returners and a lot of all-conference athletes returning. And so to me, for our staff, I feel like there's a lot of pressure that we've put on ourselves knowing that this should be a year where we have so much success," said Collins. "And so that's kind of why we chose a harder schedule of we want to be able to prepare ourselves for the postseason."
Losing just a few seniors, the Eagles will come on court in 2026 with all four all-conference selections returning. AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Emerson Ahsmuhs, first team All-SAC selection Maddie Hurst, second team All-SAC setter Blair Cherry, and third team All-SAC outside Annie Dziczkowski now all carry at least two seasons of collegiate volleyball under their belts and an NCAA tournament appearance to show for it. What's more, starting libero Trinity Hafey returns with a few key pieces added in the offseason.
Given the experience, Collins felt comfortable giving her group more of a challenge to begin 2026. C-N's first serve of the new season is scheduled for August 28th at the Bobcat Classic against Albany State, a regional opponent. Carson-Newman will play three other regional opponents on opening weekend, including Southern Wesleyan, West Alabama, and the hosting Georgia College.
"I mean 8-0 would be sweet, but I would love to come out just having a lot of success in that area, especially for regional rankings," said Collins.
Following the season-opening tournament, C-N will host Tusculum on September 1st for their SAC and home opener. The Eagles swept Tusculum both times last season.
Then, the women are back on the road for arguably the most important matches of the year. September 4-5, the Eagles head to the USC Aiken/Augusta Tournament. They kick off the weekend with Shorter and USC Aiken, crucial wins for C-N to secure regional consideration. The second day will test how great this team can be, as it takes on two 2025 NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament teams. First, they battle with the reigning Peach Belt Champions in Lander and follow that with Augusta.
"Honestly, if we win those, we'll probably be regionally ranked in the following months," said Collins. "Really, it just is going to be a test of who we are. And it's a quick test. But I think our team has the talent to be able to withstand that and do really well."
As the Eagles gear up for SAC play, the athletes will have to prepare for a new look schedule. Last season, the South Atlantic Conference coaches decided to move from the previous Tuesday-Friday format to a Friday-Saturday playing format in a double round-robin style. As such, the first conference weekend for the Eagles begins Friday, September 11, with Anderson and Newberry to follow. Both are road matches.
"I think it's harder to prepare when you play back-to-back days. Especially for us, where we really strive and are really proud of how much preparation we put into playing opponents," said Collins. "It'll just be a little bit more rest at the front end and then just kind of scouting and information throughout the week."
Emory & Henry and UVA Wise will visit the Eagles on the 18-19th of September for the first weekend of volleyball played at Holt Fieldhouse. The Eagles beat E&H twice last season and took down Wise in both regular-season matches and a SAC Quarterfinal game. Two of the contests between the Highland Cavaliers and the Eagles went to four sets.
It will be a quick turnaround from then to Tuesday, where C-N will travel up the road to visit with their travel partners in LMU on September 22 and will stay away from Mossy Creek to visit Coker and Wingate that weekend. The Bulldogs toppled the Eagles in the SAC semifinals last season en route to an Elite Eight appearance. C-N got by the Cobras in 5 sets.
"We also have a lot of hard opponents on Saturdays. So making sure that we do a great job mentally, just resetting after Fridays, no matter what the outcome is, so that we can be the best for Saturdays," said Collins
In back-to-back three-game weeks, C-N returns home that Tuesday to play Mars Hill, followed by Anderson and Newberry to round out the weekend.
Carson-Newman will see a four-game road stretch toward the back half of the regular season, starting with Tusculum and Mars Hill on the 9th and 10th. They wrap up with E&H and Wise the following weekend.
C-N gets a nice home stretch in the final part of the season, hosting the Railsplitters on October 20th. This is the team's final three-game week of the year, with Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne making their way to Jefferson City that weekend. Mossy Creek's final games of the regular season land on Halloweekend. On Friday against Coker, the Eagles will celebrate senior night. They follow that up the next day with Wingate coming to town.
"When you play top teams in the conference, I would rather have two shots at them than one. But then also once we get into tournament season and post-season, I want to have as much information on those teams as we can," said Collins. "So I would rather play hard teams and get more information to beat them when it really matters than only play them once."
For the final two games of regular season play, C-N will travel to Hickory on the first Tuesday of November and be back in the Tar Heel state that Friday to play Catawba in Salisbury.
Following the seeding, the 2026-27 SAC Volleyball Tournament will take place November 10-12 at the Rock Hill Sports & Events Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Last season, the Eagles were the four seed in the tournament, but bowed out in a three set loss to Wingate.
"I definitely think we can do a lot more this year than we did last year. I think we have matured so much. We're returning pretty much our entire team, our entire starting lineup. To me, really the sky's the limit," Collins said.
The NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament runs from November 19-21. C-N made the postseason last year, ranked fourth in the regional. However, they fell in the first round to #5 seed Flagler.
"I think they're ready for it and they're hungry for it. But having kind of a little taste of that and then coming up short too is just great motivation for them to go even further this year," said Collins.
The NCAA DII Volleyball Championship will be held in Kansas City, Missouri December 3-5 as a part of Division II's National Championship Festival. This moves NCAA DII volleyball competition up a week.
To keep up with the Eagles throughout the season, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Full coverage is also available at cneagles.com.
