Rock Hill, S.C.----For the 13th time in the last 17 seasons, the Wingate University Bulldogs are SAC Tournament champions. The top-seeded and 25th-rankd Bulldogs swept past Carson-Newman University in Saturday's South Atlantic Conference volleyball championship match. Wingate won by scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-19 to improve to 29-2 overall, while the Eagles fall to 27-5 on the season.

KEY STATS

- Wingate had 39 kills and 16 errors in 102 attacks, hitting .225
- Carson-Newman had 33 kills and 18 errors in 108 swings to hit .139
- The Bulldogs held a 44-42 advantage in digs
- The 'Dogs had 10 of the 13 aces and seven of the 13 blocks
- WU had 14 kills in each of the first two sets; C-N was under 10 kills in each of the last two frames

KEY BULLDOGS

- Gabby Saye hit .389 with eight kills and five digs
- Molly Lambillotte added seven kills, seven digs, four aces and two blocks
- Maggie Young hit .500 with six kills and three blocks
- Emily Johnson added six kills, four blocks and two aces
- Victoria Wilform contributed five kills, with Lorna Stacherski adding three kills
- Shannon Kasprak had 31 assists, six digs, four kills, two blocks and two aces
- Maggie Mullen collected 10 digs on the day

NOTES

- SAC-best 15th SAC Tournament title for the Bulldogs
- 13 of those tourney championships have come since the 2006 season
- The 'Dogs won nine straight from 2006 through 2014
- WU added tourney titles in 2016, 2018 and the 2021 spring season
- This is the 13th time in the last 17 seasons that WU has won the regular season and tourney title the same year
- The Bulldogs also have 18 regular season SAC championships; with 16 coming since 2006
- Wingate has piled up a league-best 33 conference titles all-time, with 29 coming the last 17 seasons
- Kasprak, the 2022 SAC Player of the Year, was named the SAC Tourney MVP
- She also won both major awards in the 2021 spring season
- Kasprak had 114 assists, 30 digs, 23 kills, eight blocks and four aces in 10 SAC Tourney sets
- First team All-SAC outside hitter Lambillotte joined Kasprak on the All-Tournament Team
- The graduate student piled up 30 kills, 29 digs, eight blocks and five aces while hitting .301 on the week
- Fellow first team honoree Johnson was also an All-Tourney selection
- The freshman had 26 kills, 14 blocks and three aces in the tournament  

FIRST SET

- A Blake Cherry kill gave Carson-Newman an 8-5 lead in the opening frame
- WU scored the next six, getting a kill and a block from Young along with a Kasprak ace to take an 11-8 lead
- A Lambillotte ace and Johnson kill put the 'Dogs on top 15-11
- A Stacherski kill and Kasprak ace made it 20-15
- A Wilform kill and a block made it 23-17, but C-N scored four straight to make it 23-21
- Saye's kill made it 24-21; Kasprak ended the frame with a kill

SECOND SET

- Two Young kills and a Lambillotte ace gave Wingate a quick 6-2 lead
- A Cherry kill pulled the Eagles within two at 10-8
- Young put the Bulldogs on top by five with a kill that made it 15-10
- A kill and a block from Wilform along with a kill and block from Johnson made it 18-11
- Kills from Kasprak and Lambillotte, along with a Johnson ace gave WU a 24-14 advantage
- Stacherski's kill ended the frame

THIRD SET

- A 6-0 run with kills from Wilform, Young and Saye gave Wingate a 9-4 lead
- Another Wilform kill made it 11-5
- Cherry's kill pulled Carson-Newman with three at 11-8
- WU scored the next four, with a Saye kill along with a kill and a block from Wilform making it 15-8
- C-N used a 4-0 run to get within two at 17-15 on a Cherry ace
- A Johnson ace and Stacherski kill highlighted a 3-0 run that gave the 'Dogs a 20-15 advantage
- An Abigail Hildebrand kill pulled the Eagles back within three at 21-18
- Kills from Young and Saye put the 'Dogs on top 23-18
- Saye's kill made it 24-19; a Carson-Newman error ended it

UP NEXT

- Wingate will learn its postseason future Sunday night
- The NCAA bracket will be revealed at 10:30 p.m. on NCAA.com
- The SAC tourney win clinches a 17th straight NCAA Tournament bid for the 'Dogs
- The Bulldogs have been the top team in every region poll the season
- The top team in the region earns regional hosting duties
- Wingate has hosted the NCAA Southeast Regionals eight times in the last 13 seasons
- The eight number one seeds will be announced an hour prior to the selection show on NCAA Division II social media