Charlotte, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs opened the 2021 slate in style, rolling to 3-0 victories over Lees McRae College and Young Harris College on day one of the 2021 Queens Invitational. Wingate prevailed 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-14) over Lees-McRae in the opener, then swept past Young Harris (25-8, 25-16, 25-20) to start the season 2-0 overall. This is the 15th straight year the 'Dogs have started a season 2-0.

MATCH ONE | Wingate 3, Lees-McRae 0

KEY STATS

- Wingate hit .302 in the contest, while Lees-McRae hit .059
- The 'Dogs piled up 53 kills against 15 errors in 126 attacks
- The Bobcats had 16 kills and 10 errors in 101 swings
- WU had at least 15 kills in each set, with 18 in set one and 20 in set three
- The Bulldogs held a 70-47 advantage in digs and 8-1 edge in aces
- Each team had four blocks
- Wingate hit .378 in set one and .444 in set three
- LMC was held to just three kills in the opening frame, hitting .000
- Seven different Bulldogs had at least four kills

KEY BULLDOGS

- Maggie Young had a career-high 13 kills, hitting .478 while adding three digs and a block
- Sophie Schaff added 10 kills and four blocks
- Molly Lambillotte contributed eight kills, nine digs and three aces in two sets of action
- Reese Blackley hit .308 with six kills in two sets
- Emma Ahrens had five kills in seven swings, hitting .714 in just one set
- Quin Sutphin hit .400 with five kills in two sets
- Shannon Kasprak piled up 40 assists, 17 digs, four kills and three aces
- Kari Bogen added a career-high 17 digs to go along with seven assists
- Taryn Pryce contributed 10 digs in two sets of action

FIRST SET

- Two Young kills and a Lambillotte kill gave the Bulldogs an early 4-0 lead
- A Mahealani Chun kill pulled the Bobcats within two at 6-4
- Sutphin and Lambillotte answered with kills, while a Lambillotte ace made it 10-5
- Kills from Schaff, Young and Lambillotte put WU on top 13-6
- A Blackley kill, followed by back-to-back Sutphin kills and a Kasprak ace made it 18-7
- Kills from Kasprak and Sutphin, along with a Schaff block made it 23-13
- Lambillotte's kill made it 24-14; she ended the frame with an ace

SECOND SET

- A Hailey Gilreath kill gave Lees-McRae an early 3-1 advantage
- A Young kill and two LMC errors put Wingate on top
- Three kills from Young, along with kills from Schaff and Lambillotte made it 10-8
- An Olivia Ney block tied it at 10, but two Schaff kills sparked a 3-0 WU run to make it 13-10
- Another Ney block pulled the Bobcats back within one at 14-13
- Kills from Young and Lorna Stacherski gave Wingate a 19-15 advantage
- Two Lambillotte kills, along with a block from Schaff and Marianna Warren made it 23-17
- Kasprak's kill put the 'Dogs on top 24-17; a Lambillotte ace ended the second set

THIRD SET

- The teams traded points early on in the final frame, with two Ahrens kills tying it at 12
- Wingate scored the next four, getting a Young kill and three Blackley kills to go up 16-12
- The 'Dogs added a 6-0 run to take a 21-13 lead
- Kasey Eastland started it with a kill, while Young followed with a kill and a block
- Blackley capped the spurt with back-to-back kills to put Wingate on top by eight
- A Schaff kill and Blackley ace made it 24-14; Schaff's kill ended the match

MATCH TWO | Wingate 3 Young Harris 0

KEY STATS

- Wingate hit .393 while Young Harris hit .038
- The 'Dogs had 42 kills and just nine errors in 84 attacks
- The Mountain Lions registered 17 kills and 14 errors in 79 swings
- Wingate hit .333 or better in each set; YHC hit under .100 in two of three frames
- The Bulldogs had 39 digs compared to Young Harris's 31 digs
- Wingate had 13 of the 18 aces and six of the seven blocks

KEY BULLDOGS

- Sutphin piled up her Wingate career-high 15 kills, hitting .565 while adding four blocks
- Blackley hit .400 with seven kills in two sets of action
- Lambillotte hit .500 with six kills and seven digs
- Schaff hit .400 with six kills
- Kasprak had 27 assists, five digs and four aces in two sets
- Katie Jamerson handed out 12 assists in two sets of action
- Taryn Pryce had six digs and six aces in the match

FIRST SET

- A kill and a block from Schaff gave Wingate an early 5-2 lead
- A 6-0 run, highlighted by four Blackley kills gave the 'Dogs an 11-3 advantage
- Two Kasprak aces and a Sutphin kill made it 15-4
- A Sutphin kill and Maggie Mullen ace made it 19-5
- Kills from Sutphin and Stacherski made it 24-7; Schaff capped the frame with a kill

SECOND SET

- Two Lambillotte kills, along with back-to-back Kasprak aces gave WU a 7-2 lead
- Kills from Lambillotte and Sutphin made it 10-3
- Pryce had two aces in a 4-0 run to stretch the advantage to nine at 16-7
- Two Sutphin kills and a Lambillotte kill made it 23-13, Sutphin followed with a kill
- Schaff ended the frame with a kill

THIRD SET

- A Shelby Mullins kill gave Young Harris a 9-2 lead in the third set
- An Ahrens kill and Pryce ace pulled Wingate within three at 9-6
- Kills from Sutphin, Blackley, Jamerson and Rayah Givens pulled the 'Dogs within a point
- An Alex Pierre kill pushed the YHC advantage back to four at 17-13
- Sutphin made it 17-15 with a kill, but a Lily Hidalgo kill put the Mountain Lions up by three
- Wingate countered with an 8-0 run, behind a big service run from Pryce to take a 23-18 lead
- A Sutphin kill and two Pryce errors put Wingate on top 19-18; Blackley's kill put WU up by two
- A kill and a block from Sutphin made it 22-18, while another Pryce ace capped the spurt
- A block from Sutphin and Blackley made it 24-19; the 'Dogs won on a Young Harris error

UP NEXT

- Wingate is back in action Saturday, playing two more matches in Charlotte
- The 'Dogs face Chowan at 10 a.m., then wrap up the weekend at 12:15 p.m. against Lander