HICKORY, N.C. - Lenoir-Rhyne picked up a win in their longest game of the year on Tuesday, defeating Carson-Newman 3-2 in a two and a half hour marathon.
Lenoir-Rhyne led 13-8 in the final set, but a Carson-Newman rally put the visitors up by one. The teams went back-and-forth before
Addison Vary picked up two consecutive kills to give the Bears the 21-19 set five victory.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 3, Carson-Newman 2 (25-22, 18-25, 21-25, 28-26, 21-19)
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (16-9, 14-7 SAC), Carson-Newman (19-10, 12-9 SAC)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Shuford Arena
STORY OF THE MATCH:
- Despite the Bears never leading by more than three in the opening set, the last time they trailed was 12-11.
- Carson-Newman managed to tie the match multiple times but failed to grab the lead. The Bears took the first set 25-24.
- A 7-1 run mid-way through set two put the Eagles in control, leading to a 25-18 C-N victory.
- The Eagles finished strong in set three, scoring four of the final five points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
- Down 23-20, A kill from Brooke Aeschliman and two attack errors by the Eagles tied the set at 23-23.
- Carson-Newman picked up a kill to reach match point, but Emmaleigh Allen and Aeschliman answered with kills of their own to take the lead.
- Following a back-and-forth battle, Averie Dale sent the game to a fifth with a kill off the assist from Alicia Barbarito.
- Lenoir-Rhyne looked as though they would cruise in the fifth, going up 10-6 on a Dale and Morgan Blankenship block and 13-8 on a Sydney Karjala ace.
- Carson-Newman sucked the life out of the building with a 6-0 run before a service error tied things up at 14.
- Rachael Chambers and Addison Vary put the team on their back, combining for Lenoir-Rhyne's final five points to take the match.
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- Despite the loss, Carson-Newman out-hit the Bears .274 to .258.
- Lenoir-Rhyne hit above .200 in every set.
- Averie Dale (18), Brooke Aeschliman (18), Emmaleigh Allen (15), and Addison Vary (13) finished with double-figure kills.
- Ella Scott's career high 34 digs led the way, while Alicia Barbarito dished out 26.
- Vary also led the team with 20 digs and picked up two blocks.
- Averie Dale hit .412 in the match, the 12th time she has hit over .400 this year.
- Carson-Newman's Blair Cherry tied a season-high with 62 assists.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- Carson-Newman leads the all-time series 43-40.
- The Eagles took down the Bear 3-0 in Jefferson City earlier this year.
- This game was extremely important in the NCAA Region Rankings, as Carson-Newman sat in sixth and Lenoir-Rhyne 10th prior to tonight.
- Thanks to this win the Bears are a game and a half up on Lincoln Memorial for the third spot in the SAC.
UP NEXT: Lenoir-Rhyne will close their home slate on Friday when they host Lincoln Memorial for senior night. The Railsplitters are 14-10 (12-8 SAC) and swept Coker 3-0 on Saturday. These two teams met two weeks ago, a 3-0 win for LMU in Harrogate. The senior day celebration will take place prior to first serve, which is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
