HARROGATE, Tenn. – Megan Oldenburger produced the third 20-kill night of her career to join the program's 1,000-kill club leading Carson-Newman to a five-set, 22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23 and 15-13, victory over Lincoln Memorial in South Atlantic Conference action at Mary Mars Gym.
"I am very proud of the composure and competitiveness that we showed today," Carson-Newman coach Ashley Tiernan said. "We have been struggling with our shots trying to get them to fall but we today we found the rhythm that we needed to succeed."
Oldenburger pushes her career tally to 1,014 to become the 14th member of the club. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native is the fourth player in program history to hit quadruple figures in the kill and dig column for her career. She added 18 digs and four service aces to notch her fourth double-double of the year.
Carson-Newman (5-2, 5-2) snapped a two-game skid and handed Lincoln Memorial (2-5, 2-5) a loss for the third straight meeting, the first time since 2009-10 that the Eagles have rattled off a winning streak of that length.
Erin Edwards (Midlothian, Va.) was the only other Eagle to rack up double figure smashes shoving 13 to the ground while adding four block assists and a career-high seven digs.
Hayden Barton (Hixson, Tenn.) led all players with 31 digs. Taylor Rohr (Windsor, Colo.) dished out a season-high 28 assists adding 19 digs for fourth double-double of the year. Madison Rademacher (Broomfield, Colo.) added 21 assists, the fourth time this season she has hit that mark.
The Eagles turned a 12-11 deficit into a 19-15 lead after an 8-3 burst punctuated by a kill from McKenna Hall (Bristol, Wis.). LMU responded by taking 10 of the final 13 points to win the first breaking a 22-22 tie with a kill from Sierrah Lemons and two from Gabriela Abreu. It was a frame that featured 13 ties and 10 lead changes.
2⃣0⃣ @oldenburgermeg kills
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 26, 2021
3⃣1⃣ @hbarton12 digs
2⃣8⃣ @trohr14 assists
2⃣ @katieparnell27 blocks
1⃣ @CarsonNewmanVB win pic.twitter.com/1ZcdxFEF17
⭐️ @oldenburgermeg joined the 1,000-kill club for @CarsonNewmanVB after 20 smashes in the five-set win over LMU. pic.twitter.com/Be39fkZpLS
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 26, 2021
In the second stanza, C-N blistered the ball to the tune of 17 kills and a .455 hitting percentage but it was a back-and-forth game with the 'Splitters leading 18-17 before the visiting club won eight of the final 10 seeing Edwards throttle a ball to the surface to tie the match at one.
Lincoln Memorial turned a 4-3 deficit into an 18-8 lead behind a rejection. While the Eagles chipped away eventually pulling within four at 24-20, Abreu swatted another ball to the ground to put the home group ahead 2-1.
The fourth set featured 10 more ties and six lead changes with LMU on the verge of winning the contest going on top 16-12 only to see C-N score five straight to get back on top. The sides traded blows but the Eagles reeled off five in a row to go ahead 24-20. After watching three set points go by the wayside, an attack error by Kristen Moehring forced a fifth.
Carson-Newman came out of the gates swinging scoring eight of the first 11 and 11 of the opening 16. The Railsplitters did not blink responding by winning eight of the next 10 to tie the score at 13. After a timeout from Tiernan, a kill from Oldenburger and an attack error by Sierrah Lemons sealed a win.
On the night there were 37 ties and 22 lead changes in the five-set affair. The 'Splitters dropped the match despite producing one more kill, 62-61, and one more block, 7-6, while racking up 118 digs.
Abreu led all players on the night 25 kills adding in a team-high 29 digs for her fourth double-double of the year. She produced a hitting percentage of .222 with three aces and three block assists.
Kaley Long was the only other player with double-digit kills chipping in 10. Emily Walter filled up the stat sheet with 47 assists and 25 digs. Sarah Jones added 21 digs.
The Eagles conclude the regular season with a pair of home matches starting Friday night at 7 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse against Newberry. Tune into cneagles.com/live for the broadcast presented by the Eagle Sports Network.
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