WISE – The UVA Wise Volleyball team rallied back several times but in the end the Carson-Newman Eagles managed to escape the Quillen Court with the hard-fought 3-1 South Atlantic Conference victory Tuesday evening.
Blocks were the key difference in the match as the Eagles out blocked the Cavs by 17 (29-12), with the total difference in the three sets lost by UVA Wise being 17 points.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Result: Carson-Newman 3, UVA Wise 1
Records: UVA Wise (10-12, 4-9 SAC); Carson-Newman (15-6, 11-2 SAC)
Location: Wise, VA | The Quillen Court in the David J. Prior Convocation Center
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Eagles took the lead, but never led by more than two points until they pulled out to a 12-6 advantage. A
Morgan Blevins kill sparked a 7-1 UVA Wise run that tied the set at 13-13. The Eagles made a late run themselves to retake a 23-18 lead and held on for the 25-20 win.
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Cassidy Farley got the Cavs going in the second set as a kill by her and a block helped UVA Wise take the 3-0 lead. The Eagles cut it to 3-2 but an attack error followed by a service ace and another kill by Farley sparked a 7-1 run to make the lead 10-3. C-N would attempt to rally back but the closest down the stretch they would get was 21-16, and UVA Wise went on to take the second set 25-20.
- Much like the match last month in Jefferson City, the third set was not kind to the Highland Cavaliers as they saw a 4-3 lead quickly turn into a 15-5 deficit and a 25-15 win by Carson-Newman.
- The fourth set became an exciting see-saw affair with nine ties and four lead changes. C-N took a 5-1 lead, only to see the Cavs come back with a run and take a 10-7 lead. The Eagles would come back themselves and after several ties they used a kill by Emerson Ahsmus and a pair of blocks to take the 21-18 lead. C-N then took the 24-22 lead, but a block by Farley and
Serina Petersen cut the lead to one. On the next rally, C-N's Maddie Hurst hit the soft dink over the net that the Cavs were unable to dig and the Eagles escaped with the 25-23 set win and the match victory.
GETTING WISE
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Kaylee Scarce had a solid night with a match-high 16 kills in addition to 7 digs and a pair of aces.
Mailea Hufnagel chipped in eight kills while Farley and Blevins had seven apiece.
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Piper Suddeth had 23 assists and
Lily Gutierrez had 14. Like Suddeth last week, Gutierrez is also nearing the 1,000 assist milestone for her time at UVA Wise. She currently has 1,182 career assists, 191 from her freshman season at Emmanuel, and 991 at UVA Wise.
- Defensively, Suddeth had a team-high 19 digs, followed by
Kamryn Livingston (14) and
Abigail Curtis (13).
- Petersen had five blocks, and Farley had four.
ABOUT C-N
- Ahsmus led the Eagles with 14 kills. Three other players had nine kills apiece.
- Addie Smith had a double-double with 25 assists and 12 digs.
- Five Eagle players had double digit digs, led by Bennett McCombs' 22.
- Keeran Taylor had eight blocks, and Hust and Ahsmus had six each.
UP NEXT
The Cavs are on the road for the next two matches before returning home to host Limestone for Senior Night on Nov. 8. They play at Tusculum this Friday and at Emory & Henry next Tuesday.
