ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University volleyball team will be looking to continue building on its recent string of successes, as the Trojans travel to east Tennessee for a pair of weekend South Atlantic Conference matches in the Volunteer State.
AU will square off against Carson-Newman for the 19th time in school history, Friday night and will invade Lincoln Memorial's Mary Mars Gymnasium for a Saturday afternoon showdown.
The Trojans
Anderson (10-3, 4-1 SAC) is in the midst of its longest win streak of the season after capturing its fifth straight victory with a road win at Catawba two nights ago. The Trojans have won in impressive fashion while notching four straight sweeps, including three against conference opponents and with a pair of the wins coming on the road.
AU already has eight road wins this season and will open a season-high six match conference homestand in the friendly confines of the Abney Athletic Center following the road swing. The six contests mark AU's longest SAC homestand since joining the league for the 2010 campaign and is the longest overall since the Trojans played six consecutive contests at home in 2012.
In the latest NCAA rankings, the Trojans are 11th in the nation by holding opponents to a .112 hitting percentage and rank 21st nationally with 12.98 assists per set. The Trojans lead the conference in assists (576), and have recorded a league-best 80 aces, while ranking second in kills, kills per set, hitting percentage, assists per set and aces per set.
As she has throughout the season, sophomore setter Emily Conlin sets the pace in the conference in both assists and assists per set and also leads the SAC with 21 aces, while senior outside hitter Marissa Mitter leads the league in kills and is second in kills per set. The Redondo Beach, Calif., native became the 11th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills in the win over Catawba and needs 30 kills to surpass former Trojan standout Shaunte' Heyward (2003-06) for 10th place in the school record books.
Senior Rachel Burts is fourth in the SAC with a stellar .359 hitting percentage and ranks sixth with 40 total blocks on the year. Junior Jayln Knight is 16th in the conference in digs per set, 17th in total digs, 20th in kills and 24th in block assists, while senior Serena Jackson is third in the SAC with 43 blocks and is fourth on the team with 88 kills.
Sophomore Kathryn Hughes has reached double-figure kills in three matches and equaled a season high with four block assists last Tuesday night, with junior libero Emily Conard leading the Trojans with 165 digs on the year and ranking 11th in the conference with 4.23 digs per set.
The Eagles
Carson-Newman (6-5, 4-4 SAC) has dropped three of its last four outings, and is coming off a five-set home loss to Tusculum two nights ago after sweeping Catawba last Saturday.
The Eagles were picked to finish ninth in the Preseason SAC Coaches' Poll after finishing last season with a 3-27 overall record and a 2-20 mark in league action. Carson-Newman returned six starters from a year ago, including senior setter Anna Patton, who was a second-team All-SAC pick as a sophomore and junior middle blocker Natalie Harris, the SAC Freshman of the Year in 2015.
Sophomores Morgan Ballard and Marnie Streeter were named SAC Player of the Week and SAC Specialist of the Week, respectively in mid-September after helping lead C-N to a 2-0 start in conference play.
The Series vs. Carson-Newman
The Trojans and Eagles have met 18 times over the past eight seasons, with 16 of the matchups occurring since AU joined the league in 2010. The overall series, which began in 2008, sees Carson-Newman holding a 10-8 edge on the strength of winning the first four meetings and four of the last seven contests with the Trojans. However, AU swept last year's regular-season matchups.
The Trojans defeated Carson-Newman in a five-set thriller in last year's first meeting, then knocked off the Eagles in four sets in the rematch in Jefferson City, Tenn.
Burts led the Trojans with 25 kills in the two wins, while posting a combined 11 blocks. Mitter recorded 21 kills and three aces, with Hughes notching 17 kills and four blocks against the Eagles. Jackson tallied 16 kills, with Conlin handing out 89 assists. Defensively, Conard recorded 55 digs, with Knight adding 33 digs. Megan Embry notched four aces in the two matchups, including three at the Abney Center.
The Lady Railsplitters
LMU (6-4, 3-4 SAC) is a stellar 4-1 at home and had won two straight outings before dropping a 3-1 decision at home to Lenoir-Rhyne last Saturday. The Lady Railsplitters step out of league action to host Francis Marion Friday night at Mary Mars Gymnasium.
Lincoln Memorial was predicted to finish second in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll following a season that saw the Lady 'Splitters finish with a single-season school record 25 victories, including a school-record 17 league wins en route to a 25-9 overall record. LMU also earned a berth in the NCAA Southeast Regional after falling to Wingate in the SAC Tournament Championship matchup.
Redshirt junior right side/setter Samantha Cash was named Preseason All-SAC First Team, while senior outside hitter Kiera Holland and redshirt junior middle blocker Tone Gill were placed on the second team. Cash was fifth in the SAC with 361 kills and chipped in 224 digs, while notching 55 total blocks. She recorded a triple-double against Anderson with 10 kills, 10 assists and 11 digs in last season's meeting in the Electric City. Holland posted 353 kills and 211 digs last season and earlier this season became the 11th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career kill mark. Gill finished among the top three in the SAC in total blocks (114), block assists (94) and solo blocks (20).
The Series vs. Lincoln Memorial
The Trojans and Lady Railsplitters have met 20 times over the last 15 seasons, including 16 meetings since AU joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2010 campaign.
LMU holds a 15-5 advantage in the overall series between the two schools, with Anderson snapping a nine-match skid at the hands of the Lady Railsplitters in the first meeting four seasons ago and defeating LMU three times during the 2014 campaign, including a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-13) decision in the opening round of the SAC Championship.
The Lady Railsplitters outlasted AU twice last season by identical 3-1 scores, with Mitter posting 22 kills in the two setbacks. Hughes added 18 kills for the Black and Gold, while Jackson tallied 15 kills and seven blocks. Burts notched a dozen kills and five total blocks against LMU a year ago.
