CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Six points was all that decided a match that featured 25 ties and 10 lead changes Friday night at the Levine Center between South Atlantic Conference foes Queens and Carson-Newman. The Royals were the team left standing winning 25-23, 26-24 and 25-23.
"They are a great defensive team and we struggled tonight to gain rhythm after our errors," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "I am proud of our fight throughout the match and we will continue to hold our composure going into the conference tournament next week."
Each team entered with winning streaks of at least five matches as Carson-Newman (21-7, 15-6) loses for the first time this month being swept for just the second time in 2019. Queens (21-5, 18-3) pushes its winning streak to six matches.
Three Eagles finished with at least 10 kills on the night led by 12 from Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) who hit .333. Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) finished with a double-double of 11 kills and 16 digs. Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) added 10 kills and 11 digs.
Taylor Rohr (Windsor, Colo.) dished out 25 assists and 12 scoops. Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) notched a match-high 33 digs adding two assists and two aces.
As a roster, C-N posted 42 kills with a .153 attack percentage adding 81 digs, seven blocks and six aces. Queens countered with 42 smashes on a .189 with 83 digs, two aces and three rejections.
In a tight opening set, the largest lead for either side was three points coming from the home team who used a 6-3 sequence to break a 17-all tie and push the lead to 23-20. The Eagles responded by taking the next three to force a timeout from Hannah Long. A block and a kill from Logan Witt sealed the game for the Royals.
Carson-Newman came out firing in the second stanza winning each of the first seven points but could not maintain the flow. Queens fought back by winning 15 of the next 20 points to take a 15-12 lead. After C-N regained the lead, it pushed the score out to 21-19 and led as late as 23-22. The Royal captured four of the next five to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The Royals broke up a tight third game with a 7-2 spurt to go ahead 13-9. The Eagles clawed back pulling the tally square at 23 only to see Casey Tarvin and Lindsay Elmore record back-to-back kills and put the finishing touches on the match.
Mallory Swarts led the way with 32 assists and 16 digs as one of four players with double-digit digs. Elmore posted 13 smashes and Tarvin picked up her 16th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 18 digs.
The Eagles wrap up the regular season Saturday evening at 6 p.m. with a trip to Salisbury to take on Catwaba, a club that C-N swept on Oct. 5. Follow @CNathletics on Twitter for the gameday links.
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