HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Three matches. Three of the most efficient attack percentage nights this century for Carson-Newman. The Eagles posted their second-highest hitting clip of the year at .365 toppling Coker 25-11, 25-19 and 25-16 Friday night at the DeLoach Center to win their third straight South Atlantic Conference outing.
For the team, it is the third match in-a-row where it crested the .300 hitting clip hitting no lower than .337. It is the first time that the program can boast such a string since Oct. 10-14, 2008 when it hit .397 against North Greenville, .323 versus Lander and .324 in a sweep of Mars Hill. There had been just three instances with two straight in that span.
"It was another great start tonight for our team in the first set," Carson-Newman coach Dave Franklin said. "Our defensive abilities are growing and we are applying pressure which is awesome to see. I am happy with our ability to play clean offensively as well. Our consistency over three sets in having the ability to constantly take big swings must continue to grow as we move forward and play teams that are offensively potent."
This is the seventh time in 13 all-time meetings with Coker (3-6, 1-5) that Carson-Newman (7-3, 5-2) has walked away with a sweep swelling its lead in the series to 10-3.
Marnie Streeter (Goldvein, Va.) paved the way offensively leading all players with 11 kills on the night while hitting .286 adding six digs. Five different attackers had at least five smashes with Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) next in line with seven on a .500 clip.
Elena Vasquez (Riverside, Calif.) dished out 16 assists and Madison Rademacher (Broomfield, Colo.) had 13. Morgan Ballard (Weaverville, N.C.) finished with 16 digs and Megan Oldenburger (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) chipped in 10 and five kills.
As a roster, C-N posted 37 kills on the night with 46 digs, seven service aces and five total blocks, its second-lowest of the season.
1⃣1⃣ kills from @Marnie_Streeter
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) September 28, 2019
1⃣6⃣ digs from @MorganFaith21
1⃣6⃣ assists from @lenfrances02
1⃣.5⃣ blocks from @alexandrab1025
4⃣ sweeps in 2019 for @CarsonNewmanVB pic.twitter.com/bCf9P57yJW
While the Eagles dominated the first set, it did not start out that way as the team fell behind 7-5. After five unanswered the visitors seized control using a 14-2 run to jump out by a 19-9 margin closing the set on a 20-4 sequence thanks a team .636 hitting percentage that featured 14 kills and zero hitting mistakes.
It was not as smooth of sailing in the second stanza but C-N still hit .296 as a team. Once again it was Coker jumping out to an early lead going on top 9-8 before losing five in-a-row to give the Eagles a bulge it could protect. The Cobras closed the gap to a deuce at 18-16 before losing seven of the final 10 giving Franklin's crew a 2-0 lead in the match.
Carson-Newman did not mess around in the third set rattling off the first seven points of the game as Coker never pulled closer than six points the rest of the way watching Kendall Cooley (Castle Rock, Colo.) putting the finishing touches with a kill.
The Cobras mustered a .082 hitting percentage on 27 kills making 19 attack errors on the night with 39 digs, two aces and two blocks.
Emily Everton paced the group with 10 kills and Taylor du Bray registered seven. The rest of the roster posted 10 kills and 14 attack errors. Rami Mullen closed the game with 10 assists and no player had more than seven digs on the home side of the net.
The Eagles finish up the month with a road affair against 24th-ranked Wingate slated for a 2 p.m. first serve from Cuddy Arena. Stats and video can be found by clicking the links for Saturday's contest.
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