GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Madison Shumaker recorded 13 kills in leading the Tusculum College volleyball team to a five-set victory over arch-rival Carson-Newman University Tuesday night at Pioneer Arena in South Atlantic Conference action.
The Pioneers (11-12, 6-9 SAC) won the match by scores of 25-10, 20-25, 20-25, 25-10, 15-9) to complete the season sweep over the Eagles (3-20, 2-13 SAC) for the first time since 2013. Tusculum finished the match with a season-high 14 service aces, which are tied for the third most in a five-set match in program history.
Tusculum jumped out the gate on fire as the Pioneers recorded 19 kills on 29 total attacks with zero errors for a sizzling .655 hitting percentage en route to a 25-10 win. TC got four kills each from Laryssa Welch and Brooke Statler in the opening frame. C-N hit for a respectable .250 with seven kills and only one attack error in its 24 attempts. But Tusculum posted a side-out percentage of 89 percent including an 8-0 run to give TC a 17-5 advantage.
Carson-Newman snatched momentum in the next two sets winning by identical 25-20 scores. In the second frame, the Eagles hit .211 with 14 kills, while limiting Tusculum to hit .051 with seven errors, including four coming on blocks. TC led 16-14 following a Shumaker kill, but C-N answered with a 9-2 spurt, including three kills from Natalie Harris.
In the third set, Carson-Newman jumped out to a 13-9 advantage after a Foster kill. Tusculum tied the score at 14-14 thanks to a 5-1 run including a pair of Shumaker kills. With the score tied at 15-15, C-N rattled off five straight points, including three service aces from Anna Patton as the visitors led 20-15. The Eagles extended the lead to 22-15 before winning the frame 25-20 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Pioneers roared back into the contest and led wire-to-wire in a 25-10 TC win. Tusculum hit .300 in the frame, including five more Shumaker kills, while the Eagles tallied 10 hitting errors in the set to send the match to a deciding frame.
In the fifth set, Tusculum moved out to a 6-3 lead following a Melissa Mazur ace. The Eagles would cut the deficit to two on four more occasions, including 9-7 thank to a Marnie Streeter kill. But the Black and Orange scored three straight points, including back-to-back aces from Hallie Zumack as the Pioneers extended the lead to 12-7. TC would post three of the final five points in sealing the victory with a 15-9 score in the set.
Welch finished the match with 10 kills, seven digs and five blocks, while Cassie Born contributed seven kills, three service aces and a dozen digs. Statler posted seven kills, a block and a .375 hitting percentage, while Zumack and Shannon Murphy tallied 25 and 16 assists respectively.
Both teams each recorded 85 digs. C-N's Taylor Lowe led all players with 39 digs, while Mazur paced Tusculum's defensive efforts with 19 digs to go along with her four aces. TC's Sabrina Schleuger tallied 14 digs and a service ace, while Megan Yopko added 12 digs and a service ace.
Tusculum hit for .214 on the evening with 56 kills, 19 errors and 173 total attacks. Carson-Newman hit .125 on the night with 47 kills, 26 errors and 168 attempts. The Eagles finished with eight team blocks while the Pioneer tallied six.
The Pioneers will be on the road Friday night when they travel to Queens University of Charlotte for a 7 p.m. match.
