November 3, 2025

Eagles search for season sweep of LMU Tuesday night

Carson-Newman volleyball will host the LMU Railsplitters in a SAC match on Tuesday night, looking to extend their win streak and inch toward top three in the conference

Lincoln Memorial

10-15,6-10 SAC

Carson-Newman

20-4,11-4 SAC

Final	1	2	3	T
Lincoln Memorial 10-15,6-10 SAC	19	17	23	0
Carson-Newman 20-4,11-4 SAC	25	25	25	3

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman volleyball will host the LMU Railsplitters in a SAC match on Tuesday night, looking to extend their win streak and inch toward top three in the conference

Carson-Newman is coming off a weekend split, with a loss to #19 Wingate and a three-set sweep over Catawba. All four losses this season for the Eagles have been against SAC opponents, and will look to finish out their season without further blemish as they sit in 4th in the SAC standings.

Carson-Newman saw its six-match winning streak snapped at the hands of No. 19 Wingate in a sweep on Friday night. The Eagles were held to a season-low .051 hitting percentage, and surrendered a season-high 12 service aces, tied for the most this season by the Bulldogs. Carson-Newman totaled 26 kills with a .051 hitting percentage. Offensively, Hurst led the way with nine kills, as Ahsmuhs racked up a team-high 11 digs. Blair Cherry reached a career milestone as well. The junior setter notched her 2500th career assist on a kill from Emmaline Morris.

The next day, good serving and resilient defense let Carson-Newman slip by Catawba for the season sweep and get them back in the win column. This was C-N's 16th sweep of the year, and gets them just one game out of their first 20-win season under Collins. The Eagles sit in sole possession of 4th place in the SAC, four games up on the next best UVA-Wise.

Maddie Hurst was the kill leader on the floor as the only player to notch double-digit kills (10). Emerson Ahsmuhs was one kill shy of a double-double with nine kills to go along with 15 digs. Blair Cherry's four-ace effort from the serving line was crucial to throwing Catawba out of system, and Carson-Newman grabbed nine service aces as a team. Cherry also tallied digs in the contest. Trinity Hafey was the next best in the dig department with 14 digs, while Raychel Ehlers followed closely behind with 13. Bella Cardello was a wall at the net, with four blocks to help C-N to 5.0 total.

The Lady Railsplitters enter 2025 coming off a 17–9 overall record in 2024, their best season since 2019. They were selected fifth in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll, a four-spot improvement from the year before, and had three players recognized on the SAC Players to Watch List: junior setter Lauren Pickett, sophomore libero Lauren Jacob, and redshirt sophomore setter Carley Raleigh.

Currently, LMU is 10-14 on the season and 6-9 in the conference, and coming off a loss to Newberry in South Carolina. They have also suffered losses to Mars Hill, Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne, Wise, Anderson, Catawba, and Coker. The Railsplitters currently hold down the sixth spot in the conference standings, tied with Tusculum. LMU will be looking to get back in the win column.

LMU ranks 3rd in the conference in team aces per set (1.90) and is averaging 11.80 kills per set, good for 6th in the SAC. Pickett and Jacob are both top 5 in the SAC in terms of aces per set, grabbing 0.49 and 0.45 aces per set, respectively. Kaytlin Johnson has emerged as the best attacker for the Railsplitters in the absence of Moehring and Bogdanska. The freshman is 6th among SAC competitors with 3.14 kills per set, while both Carley Raleigh and Pickett have been taking on setting duties. Both are among the top 10 in the conference in total assists, and Raleigh in 10th in the SAC with 5.20 assists per set.

The defense is also middle of the pack. With 16.22 digs per set, the Railsplitters rank 95th nationally and 9th conference-wise. Now with a year of college volleyball under her belt, Jacob is fifth in the SAC and 39th nationally in digs per set (4.97). The block is held down by Sarah Robbins, who is 8th in the SAC with 0.83 blocks per set, to lead an LMU block that is at the bottom of the conference. The Railsplitters are currently 9th in the conference standings in opponent hitting percentage as well, letting opposition find the hardwood at a .198 clip.

The series between the Railsplitters and Eagles dates back 36 years to October 10, 1989, when LMU won the first all-time meeting in Jefferson City. Since then, the Railsplitters have retained their lead in the 70 all-time meetings; LMU holds the series 40-30.

Carson-Newman has dominated in recent history, though. The Eagles have won nine of the last ten matchups between the two teams. The one blemish to that record in the last ten matchups came in the last season when C-N visited LMU in Harrogate last October. It has been 26 days since these teams last met, and the Eagles took down LMU in four sets.

LMU is typically good at home against the Eagles with a 21-14 record in the series, and the Eagles defend Holt Fieldhouse well, with a 15-17 record vs the Railsplitters. LMU hasn't taken a victory over the Eagles in Jefferson City since October 30, 2018.

Last time out against the Railsplitters was one of Carson-Newman's two four-set victories in SAC play. Four players for C-N's attack were in double-digit kills. Emerson Ahsmuhs was the leader on the floor with 17 kills to go along with 16 digs and two blocks. This was the sophomore's seventh double-double of the season. Raychel Ehlers (12), Annie Dziczkowski (11), and Maddie Hurst (10) were the other Eagles to help the team combine for their highest kills performance since September 16th at Lee. Blair Cherry joined Ahsmuhs in the double-double club with 46 assists and 13 digs. This was her 34th double-double of her career. Trinity Hafey was the defensive leader. With 17 digs to couple with a service ace.

For LMU, Finley Sparks led the charge with 16 kills, and Megan Maier followed closely with 13 and recorded the double-double with 10 digs. It was Riley Lockhart who led the defense, though, with 18 digs and Lauren Pickett was dominant from the line with three aces.

With that win, Carson-Newman snapped a nine-game home winning streak LMU had been building, and picked up its first win against the Railsplitters since 2023.

Last season, the Lady Railsplitters picked up the pace toward the tail end of 2024 to go 11-7 in the conference. This was enough to slot them into the SAC tournament, where they lost in the first round to Anderson in four sets. The Lady Railsplitter finished first in the SAC in service aces per set, averaging 1.93 per set, led by Lauren Pickett, who was fourth among conference competition (.36 service aces per set). Despite an attack that finished middle of the pack in terms of kills per set (12.28 kills per set, 5th in the SAC), Kristen Moehring led the SAC in kills per set with 3.79. It was a similar story on the blocking front. Lincoln Memorial had the 10th-best block in the conference (1.82 per set), but Agata Bogdanska was exceptional at the net. The senior ranked third in the conference with 1.10 blocks per set and was in the top 10 in hitting percentage (.306).

Despite the loss of Moehring and Bogdanska, the Railsplitters return starting setter Lauren Pickett and libero Lauren Jacob for the next season. Pickett finished third in the conference in assists per set (9.77) while Jacob was 7th among SAC competition in digs per set (4.37).

Carson-Newman and LMU will see first serve at 7:00 PM at Holt Fieldhouse in Jefferson City. The match will be available to watch on FloSports at cneagles.com/live.