Hartsville, S.C.----The top-seeded and 24th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs continued their SAC dominance Saturday afternoon, defeating third-seeded Lincoln Memorial University 3-1 in the championship match of the 2018 South Atlantic Conference volleyball tournament. Wingate won by scores of 25-17, 39-41, 25-11 and 25-16 to improve to 29-1 overall, winning its 11th tournament title in 13 years and 13th in program history. LMU falls to 20-9 on the season.
 
THOUGHTS FROM COACH COLLIER

"Even as we have won quite a few conference tournament titles over the years, we have enjoyed each one as being special and this one for sure was. All season we had to manage lineups and find ways to win with key starters out of the lineup. Even today in the championship match we had three different players leave the match with some type of injury and we had to dial up lineups that could somehow find a way to win it. That second set was one of the craziest I have ever seen. Being down 18-4 and somehow finding a way to come all the way back and push it to 41-39 was incredible. We are proud of winning both the regular season and tournament championships, as they are both completely different challenges. We are fired up about playing in the NCAA Tournament next week."

KEY STATS

- The Bulldogs piled up a season-high 73 kills against 25 errors, hitting .250
- LMU hit .106 with 46 kills and 26 errors
- Wingate had 47 combined kills in sets two and three
- LMU held a 12-9 advantage in blocks; WU had an 8-7 edge in aces
- Wingate piled up 99 digs, 13 more than the Railsplitters
- The 'Dogs hit over .200 in each set
- LMU hit below .030 in three of the four frames

KEY BULLDOGS

- First team All-SAC middle blocker Phoebe Havenaar hit .333 with 17 kills, seven digs and four blocks
- Havenaar was named the SAC Tournament MVP
- Taylor Williams had 13 kills; Hannah Givens added 12 kills
- Anne Abernathy hit .320 with 10 kills and five digs
- Anna Holmquist had nine kills and four blocks
- Rachel Alles piled up 57 assists, 16 digs, five kills, four blocks and an ace
- Kori Adams collected 23 digs, six assists and three aces
- Molly Lambillotte had 16 digs; Kasey Eastland collected 15 digs; 10 digs for Treslyn Ortiz
- Alles and Adams joined Havenaar on the All-SAC Tournament Team

NOTES

- Wingate was playing in its 13th SAC title match in 14 years
- 11th tourney title in 13 years; 13th all-time
- The Bulldogs also have 12 regular season SAC championships in the last 13 years
- The 'Dogs have 23 league titles since 2006 and a SAC-best 26 all-time
- 10th time in program history WU has won SAC regular season and tourney title in same year
- WU improves to 36-2 in the SAC Tournament since 2006
- Adams became Wingate's all-time leader in career digs
- Adams is the first player in WU history with over 2,000 career digs
- 20th double-double of the Year for SAC Player of the Year Alles
- Havenaar hit .418 with 40 kills in the SAC Tournament
- Wingate season high for kills and assists, third-most digs
- 'Dogs improve to 28-1 against LMU
- The Railsplitters have played in three SAC title matches and lost to Wingate all three times
- Wingate moves to 374-33 overall since the start of the 2007 season

SET ONE

- Wingate hit .231 with 14 kills and five errors
- LMU had 10 kills and nine errors, hitting .022
- Kills from Holmquist and Williams put WU on top 13-9
- Kills from Givens and Sophie Schaff pushed the lead to five at 16-11
- Two kills from Williams pushed the lead to 23-15; LMU error made it 24-17
- Havenaar's kill ended the frame

SET TWO

- Wingate piled up 28 kills, hitting .231
- LMU had 23 kills and six errors, hitting .236
- 16 ties and 10 lead changes in the set
- The Railsplitters led 18-3 on an Alicia Kessler kills
- Three Abernathy kills made it 18-9; two Havenaar kills and two Lambillotte aces made it 20-15
- Lindsey Nartker's kill made it 23-16 but WU scored five straight with two Abernathy kills making it 23-21
- Tone Gill's kill made it 24-21, but two Holmquist kills tied it and another Holmquist kill put WU on top
- LMU had eight chances at set point before finishing it; WU had six set points
- Kills from Havenaar and Williams gave Wingate a 38-37, but a Nartker kill and WU error put LMU on top
- Givens tied it at 39 with a kill, but a block and a kill from Nartker ended the epic set and tied the match

SET THREE

- The Bulldogs hit a match-high .349 with 19 kills and four errors
- LMU hit .027 with just five kills and four errors
- Two Holmquist kills, along with a Givens kill and Alles ace gave WU a 12-7 lead
- A Givens kill, followed by a kill and a block from Williams pushed the lead to eight
- The 'Dogs added a 6-0 run to take a 22-10 lead, getting two kills apiece from Williams and Reese Blackley
- A Shannon Kasprak kill made it 24-11; Givens and Havenaar's block ended it

SET FOUR

- The Bulldogs hit .233 with 12 kills and five errors
- LMU had eight kills and seven errors to hit .029
- A kill and a block from Alles gave the 'Dogs an early 10-5 lead
- A kill and an ace from Havenaar pushed the advantage to eight at 14-6
- A Blackley kill and Adams ace gave the Bulldogs an 18-9 advantage
- LMU scored five straight, cutting the lead to four on a Gill block
- A Havenaar kill and Ortiz ace made it 20-14
- Another Gill block made it 21-16 but Wingate scored the final four points of the set
- A kill from Ortiz made it 24-16; Givens ended the match with a kill

UP NEXT
 
- Wingate earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
- SAC record 14th straight NCAA Tournament appearance
- The Bulldogs have been the top-ranked team in the region all season
- WU has a strong chance of hosting regionals for the seventh time since 2008
- The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday night at 10 p.m.
- The NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament begins Thursday, Nov. 15