Wingate, N.C.----In a battle of the top two teams in the SAC that entered the night with a combined 22-1 record in league play, the #21 Wingate University Bulldogs prevailed 3-1 over Carson-Newman University in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action in Cuddy Arena. Wingate won by scores of 25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 29-27 to improve to 22-1 overall and 13-0 in the SAC. The Eagles see their seven-match winning streak come to an end, falling to 17-3 overall and 10-2 in league play.

KEY STATS

- Wingate piled up 65 kills against 18 errors in 148 attacks, hitting .318
- Carson-Newman had 49 kills and 26 errors in 156 swings to hit .147
- The Bulldogs held a 65-56 edge in digs
- Each team had six aces
- The 'Dogs held a 13-4 advantage in blocks
- Wingate had at least 13 kills in each set, with 37 combined kills in sets two and four
- WU hit over .288 in every frame, hitting over .340 in the first two sets
- The Eagles hit under .200 in the first three sets, hitting .000 in set two with just seven kills
- C-N registered 19 kills in the final frame

KEY BULLDOGS

- Molly Lambillotte celebrated Senior Night with 13 kills, 11 digs and five blocks, hitting .542
- Emily Johnson hit .545 with 13 kills, six digs, four blocks and two aces
- Gabby Saye hit .312 with 13 kills and two blocks
- Maggie Young contributed six kills and eight blocks on the night
- Vitoria Wilform registered six kills and two blocks
- Lorna Stacherski added four kills and seven digs
- Shannon Kasprak piled up 56 assists, 11 digs, seven kills and three blocks on her Senior Night
- Maggie Mullen picked up 17 digs

NOTES

-  Wingate improves to 53-15 all-time against Carson-Newman
- The 'Dogs are 25-4 against the Eagles in Cuddy Arena
- WU is the only team without a SAC loss; every other team has at least two league setbacks
- Season highs in kills and assists for Wingate; third-most blocks of the year
- Season-high 56 assists for Kasprak; 48th career double-double
- 15th career double-double for Lambillotte, who leads SAC outside hitters in hitting percentage (.313)
- Johnson has 44 kills in 73 swings over her last four matches, hitting .534
- The freshman leads the SAC in blocks and ranks fourth in hitting percentage
- Fifth double-digit kill effort of the year for Saye; she has hit over .300 in four of those contests
- Wingate leads the nation in opponents' hitting percentage and ranks sixth in hitting percentage
- The .318 the 'Dogs hit Friday night is the highest the Eagles have allowed this year; previous high was .239
- C-N is only the seventh team this season to hit over .100 against Wingate
- The 'Dogs have won 39 of 43 sets in league play; C-N has the second fewest lost sets with 11
- The Bulldogs lead the nation in wins and rank second in winning percentage
- Ninth time since 2007 Wingate has had a 20-match winning streak
- First 20-match winning streak since 2018; won 19 straight in 2019

FIRST SET

- A Blake Cherry ace gave the Eagles an early 4-0 lead
- A kill and an ace from Johnson cut the lead to one at 8-7
- A Lambillotte kill and Young block put the 'Dogs on top 11-10
- C-N scored five of the next six, taking a 15-12 lead on a Julia Wheeler kill
- A Johnson block and Kasprak kill sparked a 3-0 run that tied it at 15
- Two Johnson kills and a Taryn Pryce ace put Wingate on top 18-17
- A WU error tied it at 18, but the 'Dogs answered with a 5-0 run to go on top 23-18
- Lambillotte started it with a kill and a block, while two kills and a block from Saye capped it
- A Carson-Newman error made it 24-20; another Eagle miscue ended the frame

SECOND SET

- Wingate jumped out to a 7-2 lead, getting two kills and a block from Lambillotte in the early spurt
- A Lambillotte kill, followed by two Johnson blocks and a Wilform kill gave the 'Dogs a 12-5 lead
- The Eagles scored the next five, making it 12-10 on a Cherry kill
- WU used a 4-0 run to push the lead back to six, getting a kill and a block from Young to make it 17-11
- A Taylor Keeran kill pulled C-N back within four at 19-15
- A Kasprak block and Stacherski kill pushed the lead back to six at 21-15
- Kills from Wilform, Kasprak and Young made it 24-16; an Emma Ahrens kill ended the frame

THIRD SET

- Three straight Wingate errors and an Abbey Hildebrand ace gave C-N a 12-9 lead
- A Taylor Adams kill put the Eagles on top 16-11
- Kills from Lambillotte and Johnson pulled the Bulldogs within two at 16-14
- Two more Bulldog errors gave Carson-Newman a 21-17 advantage
- A Saye kill cut the lead to two, but two Wheeler kills made it 24-19
- A block and a kill from Young, along with a C-N error made it 24-22
- A block from Emmagrace Cobb ended the set

FOURTH SET

- A Keeran kill and two Wingate errors gave the Eagles a 10-7 lead
- Kills from Kasprak and Johnson capped a 3-0 run that tied it at 12
- The 'Dogs added a 4-0 run, getting a kill and a block from Lambillotte to go on top 16-13
- A Keeran kill and two Wingate errors gave Carson-Newman an 18-17 advantage
- A Maya Walker kill and Maddie Hoffman ace put WU on top 19-18
- C-N scored five of the next six, taking a 23-20 lead on a Skylor Weaver kill
- A Saye kill and Kasprak blocked cut the lead to one, but a Weaver kill made it 24-22
- A C-N service error made it 24-23, while a Kasprak kill and Pryce ace put WU on top 25-24
- Wheeler's kill was answered by a Johnson kill to give the 'Dogs a 26-25 edge
- Wheeler answered with another kill to tie it, but Stacherski's kill put Wingate back on top
- Hildebrand's kill tied it for a final time at 27
- Lambillotte's kill made it 28-27; a Carson-Newman error ended the match

UP NEXT

- Wingate is back in action Saturday, hosting LMU at 2 p.m.