Trojans Head to Volunteer State for Pair of Conference Matchups

Posted: Oct 24, 2019

ANDERSON, S.C. – After collecting four home wins in the last eight days, the Anderson University volleyball team will go back on the road for a pair of South Atlantic Conference Conference contests this weekend by visiting Carson-Newman on Friday night and traveling to Lincoln Memorial, Saturday afternoon.

First-serve versus the eagles at Holt Fieldhouse is set for 7 p.m., while the Trojans and Lady Railsplitters will square off inside Mary Mars Gymnasium at 2 p.m.

The Trojans
Anderson (16-3, 12-2 SAC), which is 8-3 away from the Abney Athletic Center this season, has won 14 of its last 15 outings and shares second place in the league standings, alongside Queens. Both teams trail Wingate by one game with eight contests remaining on the conference slate.

The Trojans continue to rank in the top two statistically in the conference in kills, kills per set, hitting percentage, assists, assists per set, service aces, points and points per set, while ranking seventh in digs, digs per set and blocks.

Freshman Lindsay McCurley leads a balanced defensive Trojan squad and ranks ninth in the league with 279 digs on the season, while senior setter Emily Conlin is second on the team with 219 digs. Sophomore Meghan DeVaux (203 digs) and freshman Alexandra Petrelli (150 digs) are also averaging more than two digs per set this season.

Paced by sophomore Maya Learmonth's team-high 186 kills (3.05/set), junior Regan Duty, senior Hailee Wilhelm, sophomore Noelle Knutsen, freshman Taylor Weber and junior Kaitlyn Grube have all topped the century mark in kills on the season, with each averaging more than two kills per set.

Knutsen (.338) and Wilhelm (.332) are fourth and fifth, respectively in the league standings in hitting percentage, while Conlin paces the SAC in assists and assists per set. She has been named SAC Specialist of the Week four times this season and is the only player in the conference with more than 700 assists and 200 digs.

Carson-Newman
The Eagles, who went 16-13 overall in 2018, with an 11-9 SAC record and finished in a tie for fourth place with Lenoir-Rhyne, were a preseason pick to finish in a tie for third alongside Lincoln Memorial in the 2019 SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

C-N is currently alone in fourth place in the league standings, 2 ½ games behind both AU and Queens, who enter the weekend tied for second place.

Senior Morgan Ballard earned Preseason First-Team All-Conference accolades, while junior Megan Oldenburger was a second-team all-conference selection.
Ballard is a two-time all-region honoree and finished last season with 784 digs. After being on the All-Freshman team two years ago, Oldenburger ranked ninth in the SAC with 302 kills, while adding 33 aces and 3.54 digs per set last year.

Ballard is second in the SAC in both digs (382) and digs per set (5.31/set), while teammate Marnie Streeter is currently third in the league with 215 overall kills and ranks eighth in kills per set (2.99/set). Junior middle blocker Katie Parnell leads the conference in blocks (91) and is second in the standings with 1.32 blocks per set.

Carson-Newman (15-5, 9-4 SAC) owns a stellar 10-1 record at home this season, with the Eagles' lone setback coming as a five-set loss, 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-16, 4-15) to Queens earlier this month. C-N has won eight straight since falling to the Royals, with the win streak including five sweeps and a four-set win over league-leading and then No. 22-ranked Wingate last Saturday.

The Series vs. Carson-Newman
The Trojans and Eagles have met 25 times over the past 14 seasons, with 22 of the matchups occurring since AU joined the league in 2010. The overall series, which began in 2006, sees Carson-Newman holding a narrow, 13-12, edge.

Carson-Newman won the first five meetings in the overall series and the two teams have nearly evenly split the last 13 matchups, with AU sweeping the 2016 and 2017 regular-season matchups before Carson-Newman edged the Trojans in a five-set thriller in the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Jefferson City, Tenn.

The two teams split last year's regular-season matchups, with each squad defending their home court.

Earlier this season, the Trojans outdueled Carson-Newman, 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10) at the Abney Athletic Center. Learmonth led a balanced attack with 16 kills and narrowly missed a double-double after coming up with nine digs against the Eagles. Grube added 11 kills, while Duty tallied seven kills. Knutsen notched seven kills and added a solo block and a pair of block assists.

Conlin dished out 49 assists and recorded 20 digs, while junior Christina Stacy came up with 19 digs and McCurley chipped in 17. Petrilli posted eight digs in the win.

Lincoln Memorial
The Lady Railsplittesrs, who posted a 20-10 overall record a season ago, including a 14-6 mark and a third-place place finish in the conference, were a preseason pick to finish tied for third – with Carson-Newman - in the 2019 SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

LMU is seeking its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after capturing an at-large bid last season.

Senior Rylee Storms and sophomore Emily Walter both garnered preseason All-SAC accolades. Storms, a right-side hitter, landed a spot on the preseason All-SAC First Team, while setter Walter picked up preseason All-SAC Second Team honors.

Storms captured All-SAC Second Team accolades a season ago after finishing the year with 311 kills and was named 2018 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Southeast Honorable Mention All-Region and collected SAC All-Tournament Team honors. She tallied 25 service aces, 80 blocks and 203 digs a season ago.

Walter ranked fourth in the SAC a season ago with a team-high 989 assists and captured SAC All-Freshman Team accolades after coming up with 337 digs.

Junior Sarah Jones is third in the SAC with 349 digs on the season and is sixth in the league with 4.53 digs per set, while Walter ranks third in assists (648) and fourth in assists per set (8.42/set)

LMU (6-14, 5-8 SAC) is 3-6 at home this season and has dropped three of its last four decisions, including a 3-0 loss two nights ago to Carson-Newman.

The Series vs. Lincoln Memorial
The Trojans and Lady Railsplitters have met 26 times over the last 16 seasons, including 21 meetings since AU joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2010 campaign.

LMU holds a 16-10 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 six 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.

After LMU swept the 2015 and 2016 matchups, the Trojans returned the favor by blanking the 'Splitters twice in 2017 and then sweeping last year's regular-season matchups before LMU edged AU in five sets in the SAC Tournament semifinals.

The Trojans knocked off LMU, 3-2 (22-25, 26-24, 23-25, 30-28, 16-14) in the second of two straight five-set wins in September. Wilhelm led all players with a season-high 17 kills, while Weber posted a season-best 15 kills in the win. Knutsen knocked down nine kills and added five block assists, with Learmonth tallying nine kills.

Conlin dished out 53 assists and came up with 13 digs while narrowly missing a triple-double by knocking down a season-high nine kills. The Glendale, Ariz., native recorded a .750 hitting percentage by recording the nine kills with no errors in 12 attempts. McCurley equaled a season-high with five aces and notched a team-high 17 digs on the day. DeVaux added 14 digs on the day.