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Late set rally powers Pioneers to 3-2 win at Carson-Newman

Late set rally powers Pioneers to 3-2 win at Carson-Newman

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's volleyball team scored the final four points to rally in the deciding set as the Pioneers won 3-2 over arch-rival Carson-Newman University in a five-set marathon Tuesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

Tusculum (5-16, 3-12 SAC) won the first two sets 26-24 and 25-14, only to see the Eagles (11-11, 7-8 SAC) fight back with 25-20 and 25-19 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively.  C-N held a 13-11 lead before TU scored four in a row, including a kill by senior Cassie Born on match-point as the Black and Orange won 15-13 in the fifth frame.

Tusculum wins back-to-back matches for the first time since opening the season 2-0 with victories over Chowan and Emmanuel.  TU returns to Pioneers this weekend to begin a three-match home-swing starting with Friday's SAC contest with Lenoir-Rhyne for Senior Night at 7 p.m.

The victory also moves the Pioneers into a three-way tie for eighth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings along with Coker and Catawba.

In Tuesday's match, Born led the Pioneers with 16 kills, 21 digs, two service aces and two blocks.  Aubrey Hawkins added a dozen kills, while Carli Pigza had 10 kills and four blocks.  Gabby Gray added nine kills, 15 digs and four service aces, including her last one which was part of TU's 4-0 run to win the match and avenge last month's home loss to Carson-Newman.

Tusculum setter Alyssa Rojas dished out 51 assists to go along with 19 digs, two service aces and three blocks. She also tallied five kills and a .385 hitting percentage in the victory.  Senior libero Melissa Mazur contributed 30 digs, five assists and a service ace in her final road match at Holt Fieldhouse.

Carson-Newman's Megan Oldenburger posted 13 kills and 21 digs, while teammate Erin Edwards accounted for 12 kills, eight blocks and a .407 hitting percentage.  The Eagles finished the night with 13.5 total team blocks including a match-high 10 assisted blocks by Katie Parnell to go along with her 11 kills and her .308 hitting percentage.  C-N setter Taylor Rohr finished with 30 assists and 12 digs, while Morgan Ballard tallied 35 digs, defensively.

The Eagles took control in the first set racing out to a 13-8 lead following a kill by Natalie Harris.  The Pioneers answered with four straight to cut the C-N lead to 13-12 and force a timeout by the Eagles.  Carson-Newman moved back out to another five-point lead at 18-13 in part to a 5-1 run sparked by two kills from Parnell.  TU called a timeout and back came the Pioneers with a 10-4 run to lead 24-22 thanks to two kills each by Pigza and Hawkins.  Carson-Newman fought off back-to-back set points to tie the frame at 24-24, but a kill from Born and a C-N ball handling error gave the Pioneers a 26-24 win in the set.

It was all Tusculum in the second frame as the Pioneers scored the first five points to spark a 15-1 run.  TU would cruise to the 25-14 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.  Tusculum hit .406 for the set with 13 kills and zero errors in 32 attempts.  Born had five kills and a .556 hitting percentage in the second set, while Gray tallied three kills and eight digs in the frame.

In the third set, Carson-Newman used a 7-2 run late in the stanza including back-to-back kills from Oldenburger as the Eagles won 25-20 to trim the match deficit to 2-1.  C-N carried the momentum into the fourth set as the hosts lead predominantly throughout to win 25-19 and force a deciding frame.

Tusculum scored the first two points of the fifth set only to see Carson-Newman score the next three as the lead went back-and-forth.  The Eagles held its largest lead of the set at 9-5 following a kill by Edwards.  TU scored four in a row to knot the score at 9-9 thanks to a kill and service ace by Born and kills from Pigza and Rojas.  The score would be tied again at 10-10 before C-N scored three of the next four points to take a 13-11 lead after a TU service error.  But that was followed by a C-N service error.  Gray posted an ace to tie the score at 13-13.  Thornton knocked home a kill and Born finished the match with her 16th kill of the evening as TU prevailed 15-13.

Carson-Newman posted a .188 hitting percentage finishing with 55 kills, 19 errors and 192 attempts.  TU had a .147 attack percentage with 59 kills, 29 errors in 204 attacks.  The Pioneers edged C-N in digs by a 108-105 margin and the visitors held an 11-7 edge in service aces.

Tusculum wins its third straight regular-season match at Carson-Newman.

Tusculum will honor seniors Melissa Mazur, Cassie Born and Brooke Statler on Friday night at Pioneer Arena as TU welcomes Lenoir-Rhyne.

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