ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Carson-Newman in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament opening round on Tuesday.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: (6) Carson-Newman 3, (3) Lenoir-Rhyne 0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18)
Records: Carson-Newman (21-10, 13-9 SAC), Lenoir-Rhyne (16-11, 14-8 SAC)
Location: Rock Hill, S.C. | Rock Hill Sports & Events Center
STORY OF THE MATCH:
- The teams went back-and-forth, with Lenoir-Rhyne taking a 21-20 lead on a Carson-Newman service error.
- The Eagles answered by winning five of the next seven points to take the set 25-23.
- An Averie Dale block gave Lenoir-Rhyne a 10-7 lead in the second set.
- Carson-Newman answered with a 10-2 run, turning that deficit into a 17-12 lead.
- The Bears never got closer than two and dropped the second set 25-20.
- A big run midway through the third set eventually led to a 25-18 match clinching set win.
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- Lenoir-Rhyne hit just .147 in the match, compared to .264 for Carson-Newman.
- Emmaleigh Allen led the Bears with 10 kills while Sydney Karjala was tops with 19 assists.
- Addison Vary (12), Ella Scott (10), and Julie Donato (10) reached double figure digs.
- Averie Dale led the team with four blocks.
- The Bears posted just two service errors in the match, the team's second lowest mark of the season.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- Carson-Newman leads the all-time series 44-40.
- This is the Bears first opening round loss in the SAC Tournament since falling 3-0 to Tusculum in 2022.
- In an odd statistical anomaly, Lenoir-Rhyne was 2-9 this season when committing eight or fewer service errors, and 14-2 when committing nine or more.
- Should this be Lenoir-Rhyne's final game of the season, Emmaleigh Allen will close her career with 1,161 kills, the sixth most in program history.
