Looking for a 10th straight victory, Carson-Newman rides to Mars Hill, the last remaining undefeated team in the South Atlantic Conference, for a 6 p.m. first serve Tuesday night.
If Carson-Newman (10-1, 3-0) prevails on Tuesday, it would be just the third time that the school hits a winning streak of at least 10 matches. The program's last double-digit winning streak was also its best start to a season prior to 2022. In 2007 when the Orange and Blue rattled off 13 consecutive victories before suffering the first loss of the year. The program record for most consecutive wins was set in 2022 when the Eagles reeled off 15 straight from Sept. 13 to Oct. 11 where 11 were sweeps and only one required five sets.
Under coach Ashley Tiernan, Carson-Newman is 12-2 when playing on Tuesdays with seven coming in straight stanzas. All told, the program had reeled off nine straight wins on Tuesday nights, seven sweeps, before losing to Mars Hill in five sets on Oct. 12, 2021, its first loss since falling in four at Mars Hill on Sept. 17, 2019.
Tuesday evening is the 68th meeting between the two programs with the Eagles holding a 41-26 lead but Mars Hill winning in five sets in each of the last two clashes. Last year the outing took place at Mossy Creek as Carson-Newman tied a program record for kills in a match with 78, 23 more than the Lions. After falling behind 0-2, the Orange and Blue won the third and fourth sets before falling 15-9 in the fifth.
The Lions are one of the final 14 teams in the country without a loss with five sweeps and overcoming a 2-0 hole at Tusculum last Tuesday to reverse sweep the Pioneers taking the fifth set 15-7.
Coach Mike Smith's team has been one of the best defensive teams in the country holding foes to a .060 hitting percentage that is the fifth-best margin in the country. They are sixth in digs per set with a 18.50 margin led by Laela Jimenez's 6.14 clip, the second-best in the nation. The freshman from Naples, Fla. has at least 20 three times.
Mars Hill is third in the league in efficiency with a 2.27 hitting percentage averaging just shy of 13 kills per game. The combination of Sarah Goddard and Jana Cuk are in the top seven of the league in kills per set, the only school in the league that can tout that.
Goddard has been up and down with three matches of at least 16 kills and four with single digits. Cuk has been more consistent with four contests of at least 10 and is hitting .434, a mark that ranks atop the conference and 15th in Division II.
Fans can use their FloSports subscription or sign up for one to watch the match on Saturday and every contest all season long. Follow along to @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
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