JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - In a critical game against South Atlantic Conference foe Carson-Newman, the Newberry College volleyball team came up huge with a five set win on Saturday afternoon.

No one came up larger for Newberry than freshman Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.). Prachar had a career day for the Wolves. The freshman had a career high 23 kills.

"It was an outstanding day for Lauren (Prachar)," head coach David Nicholson said. "It couldn't have come at a better time for us. When she's on her game, she's a great weapon."

Prachar's 23 kills overshadowed another outstanding day for sophomore Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.). The sophomore had 18 kills and had one of her most efficient days of the season hitting .317. Parrish sits at 321 kills for the season. That total is good enough for ninth all time on Newberry's single season kills list.

While Prachar and Parrish are the usual suspects, Newberry got huge performances from setter Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) and libero Elayni Stokes (Houston, Texas).

Browning made life easier on the Newberry hitters notching a season high 55 assists. Stokes had 28 digs in a tightly contested match where the Wolves needed every opportunity it could get.

"Blair and Elayni were huge for us today," Nicholson said. "Without their effort, it would have made it a lot tougher to come out victorious today."

It looked for a while like Newberry would fall in to its old habits. The Wolves stormed out to a 2-0 lead but Carson-Newman clawed back in squeaking out the third set 25-23 before rolling through the Wolves 25-16 in set four.

Newberry reached down deep to overcome its fifth set doldrums. The Wolves had been 0-6 in five set matches before today's win. It didn't come easy as the Eagles fought off three match points before Stokes' service ace gave Newberry the match.

"It goes to show we have a little more toughness than people originally thought," Nicholson said. "This win was absolutely huge for us."

The win pulls the Wolves (12-12, 5-9 SAC) in to a seventh place tie with Carson-Newman. Newberry will return to action next Wednesday against Lander.