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Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs have had one of the most dominant stretches in the history of the South Atlantic Conference, winning 26 of the last 30 volleyball championships. Wingate has also collected five regional titles over the past decade, while ranking in the top 10 nationally in winning percentage each of the last 15 seasons. The Bulldogs are in Dallas, Texas this week for the Division II AVCA National Championships.

OVERALL DOMINANCE

The Bulldogs have gone 418-39 overall since the start of the 2007 season, good for a .935 winning percentage. Wingate is 327-21 in the regular season over that span. The 'Dogs have earned a SAC-record 15 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, while earning hosting duties at the NCAA Southeast Regionals eight times. The Bulldogs are the only SAC team to ever earn an AVCA ranking. Wingate has been included in 75 polls since 2009, climbing as high as seventh during the 2014 season.

Wingate has won at least 30 matches in 10 of the last 13 full seasons; the rest of the current SAC schools have combined for two this century. The 'Dogs have ranked in the top 10 in winning percentage every year since 2007, leading the nation in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2018, ranking third in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2019 and fourth in 2012. The Bulldogs have had three or few losses in 11 of the last 14 seasons.

SAC DOMINANCE

Wingate has gone an incredible 245-14 in league play since the 2007 season, winning 14 of the last 15 regular season championships. The Bulldogs are also 37-3 in the SAC Tournament over their last 40 matches, claiming 12 titles while playing in 13 of the last 15 championship matches. The 'Dogs have gone undefeated in league play six times over the last 15 years, adding five one-loss seasons in league play. Wingate has only lost more than two SAC matches in a season twice since 2007.

The Bulldogs reeled off a league-record 83-match SAC winning streak, starting in 2007. After that streak was snapped, Wingate responded by going on a 55-match winning streak, the second-longest in league history. The 'Dogs went 123-3 in league play from 2007-2014, winning all 16 SAC titles.

REGION DOMINANCE

Since the region was re-aligned in 2008, the Bulldogs have been consistently atop the Southeast Region. Wingate hast hosted eight of the 12 regional championships since the realignment, with hosting duties going to the top team in the region. The Bulldogs are still the only SAC team to ever earn regional hosting duties.

Wingate won its first region title in 2010 in Cuddy Arena, adding a 2012 regional championship at Armstrong. The Bulldogs added titles in 2013 and 2014 in Cuddy Arena, while also capturing the 2018 championship in Cuddy. Wingate has played in the regional championship match nine times in the last 12 years.   

INDIVIDUAL HONORS

With all of the team success, the Bulldogs have also piled up the individual honors. Wingate has had at least one student-athlete earn AVCA All-American recognition every year since 2007. The Bulldogs have the only first team AVCA All-American in SAC history in Anna Hilton, and the only three second team AVCA All-Americans in Lexi Potter, Katie Bludau and Rachel Alles. There have been 23 SAC student-athletes earn AVCA All-American recognition since 2007, 18 of them are Bulldogs. Wingate has the only 12 players from the SAC to be named either a first, second or third team AVCA All-American since 2009. Stormi Gale was the first player in SAC history to earn a spot on a Daktronics and AVCA All-American team and was named the SAC Athlete of the Year in 2011.

Wingate has had nine of the last 11 SAC Players of the Year, including 2021 SAC Player of the Year Shannon Kasprak. Hilton and Gale each won the honor twice, with Bludau, Alles, Liz Willis and Shelly Stumpff also earning Player of the Year accolades in the past decade for the Bulldogs. Gale, Bludau, Hilton and Alles have also all earned Region Player of the Year honors.

STUDENT-ATHLETES

Wingate has also gotten it done in the classroom. The Bulldogs have earned AVCA Team Academic honors seven straight years and 10 of the last 11 seasons overall. Wingate has had 11 Academic All-America honorees, including 2006 Academic All-America of the Year honoree Rebecca Brezovec.

Wingate volleyball has had nine SAC Scholar-Athletes, including two-time winners Brezovec and Lindsey Hinson. Brezovec was also a two-time winner of the prestigious SAC President's Award, going to the top overall student-athlete in the entire conference. Willis earned the honor in 2012, with Anna Holmquist bringing home the award in 2019. Grace Krauser is the only SAC student-athlete to earn the SAC Elite 90 Award, picking it up in 2010 and 2012. Gale, Krauser and Holmquist have all advanced to the final 30 of the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award, going to the top overall senior female student-athlete from NCAA Division I, II and III.

HEAD COACH SHELTON COLLIER

Shelton Collier came to Wingate in 2002 and has turned the Bulldogs into a Division II powerhouse. In 39 years of coaching, Collier has compiled 1,094 career victories, ranking eighth all-time in wins in the history of college volleyball. Collier ranks fourth among active head coaches in victories. He is one of only nine coaches in NCAA volleyball history to go over 1,000 career wins, while picking up his 500th victory at Wingate in the 2019 season. He won 296 matches at the University of Pittsburgh and 271 at Georgia Tech, earning Big East and ACC Coach of the Year honors before joining the Bulldogs.

In his 19 years at Wingate, Collier has been named the SAC Coach of the Year 10 times, which included a span of nine in a row. He is the league's all-time leader in Coach of the Year awards, conference wins, regular season SAC titles, SAC Tournament championships, regional titles and NCAA National quarterfinal appearances. Collier has been named the AVCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year seven times in his career, while earning AVCA National Coach of the Year honors in 2013. He was inducted into the Wingate University Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

MORE OF THE SAME FOR WINGATE IN 2021

Despite the move to the spring season, it was business as usual for the Bulldogs, who went 11-1 overall, capturing the SAC regular season title, earning the one seed for the SAC Tournament, and picking up the SAC Tournament title. The Bulldogs rank third nationally in kills per set, fifth in hitting percentage and assists per set and 10th in opponents hitting percentage. Wingate led the SAC in hitting percentage, kills per set, assists per set and aces per set, ranking second in blocks per set and opponents' hitting percentage.

The SAC Player of the Year and SAC Tourney MVP Kasprak ranks 11th nationally in assists per set, while first team All-SAC selection Sophie Schaff is 20th in the nation in blocks per set. Second team All-SAC selection Courtney Niesen is 22nd in the country in digs per set. Four Bulldogs finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the SAC in hitting percentage, with seven ranking in the top 20.

AVCA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Wingate is in Dallas, Texas this week for the AVCA Championships. The NCAA does not have official championships for fall sports competing this spring, but the American Volleyball Coaches' Association has put together an AVCA championship for this week.

"With the NCAA not sponsoring a spring championship for volleyball, we are so excited that the AVCA decided to host this event in Dallas," Collier says. "This is certainly a very unique year for athletics everywhere in the country, so we really appreciate the opportunity to be able to play in this national tournament. Our players worked really hard to achieve their goals of winning a championship this spring, and we look at going to Dallas as a reward for this impressive achievement as well as an incredible opportunity to play some top teams from other parts of the country. We have two players from Texas in Shannon and Sophie, so it will be fun for them to get to play in their home state. Our players are really looking forward to getting to play more volleyball together in what is sure to be a very unique event."

The tournament schedule had a last-minute change when a team dropped out on Tuesday. The Bulldogs will now play Flagler Wednesday at 2 p.m., then face #4 Hillsdale at 5 p.m. The playoffs will begin on Thursday.

"Wingate and Flagler have had some great battles over many years, with several epic five-set matches in both regular season and in NCAA regional championship matches so this is an exciting opportunity for us," Collier says. "Having a chance to play the fourth-ranked team in the country in Hillsdale is also an incredible opportunity for our players and our program."