Rock Hill, S.C.----The top-seeded and 23rd-ranked Wingate University capped a dominant run through the SAC Tournament by sweeping past second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 3-0 in the championship match of the 2024 South Atlantic Conference volleyball tournament Friday night. Wingate won by scores of 25-20, 25-12 and 25-21 to improve to 28-2 overall, winning the 14th SAC Tourney title in the last 19 seasons and 16th overall. The Bears fall to 25-6 on the season.

NOTES

- Wingate's 16 SAC Tourney titles are the most in the SAC
- The 'Dogs also have a league-best 20 regular season SAC titles
- The Bulldogs have 36 total conference championships
- Wingate has piled up 32 league titles over the last 19 seasons
- This marks the 14th time since 2006 the 'Dogs have won the regular season and tourney title in the same year
- The Bulldogs have won 20 straight matches
- Wingate did not drop a set in the SAC Tournament, sweeping UVA Wise, Mars Hill and LR
- The 'Dogs have now won 25 consecutive sets and 43 of their last 44
- First team to sweep through all three SAC Tourney matches since Wingate did so in 2014
- Sydney Morland was named the SAC Tournament MVP
- The SAC Player of the Year was joined on the All-Tournament team by Maddie Hoffman and Emily Johnson

KEY STATS

- Wingate had 42 kills and 12 errors in 140 swings, hitting .214
- LR had 35 kills and 21 errors in 147 attacks to hit .095
- The Bulldogs piled up 13 blocks on the night; the Bears had five blocks
- Wingate had four of the six aces
- The Bulldogs held an 80-75 advantage in digs
- WU hit .389 with 18 kills in set two
- LR had just six kills in the second, hitting .059
- The Bears hit below .110 in all three frames

KEY BULLDOGS

- Morland hit .450 with 10 kills, six blocks and two digs
- Gabbby Saye had eight kills, four blocks and three digs, hitting .273
- Maya Van Heyst had six kills, 17 assists, 11 digs and three blocks
- Elsa Lamphere had six kills and 16 digs, adding three blocks
- Lorna Stacherski contributed six kills, three digs and a block
- Johnson had four kills and seven blocks, adding two aces
- Katie Jamerson had 14 assists, nine digs, two kills and an ace
- Hoffman piled up 24 digs, adding four assists and an ace
- Maggie Fillauer collected 11 digs on the night

SET ONE

- A Jenna Vogen kill gave the Bears an 8-6 lead
- Wingate scored the next four, getting two kills and a block from Johnson to take a 10-8 lead
- Kills from Saye and Lamphere, along with a Johnson block put the 'Dogs on top 14-9
- A Brooke Aeschliman kill cut the lead to one at 15-14
- A block and a kill from Morland gave Wingate an 18-15 advantage
- A Kayli Cleaver kill pulled the Bears back within one at 20-19
- Lamphere answered with back-to-back kills, while Johnson's ace made it 24-20
- A Lenoir-Rhyne error ended the frame

SET TWO

- Two Morland kills and a Jamerson kill gave Wingate a 7-5 lead
- Cleaver's kill cut the lead to one at 10-9
- The 'Dogs scored the next six, getting two Morland kills along with kills from Saye and Van Heyst
- Another 6-0 run extended the lead to 12 at 22-10
- Morland, Lamphere and Van Heyst started the flurry with kills; Morland capped it with back-to-back blocks
- Kills from Morland and Stacherski made it 24-12; another Stacherski kill ended the frame

SET THREE

- Two Morland blocks and a Johnson ace put the 'Dogs on top 6-3
- A Taylor Osborne kill tied it at seven
- A Kathy Peter kill and three WU errors gave the Bears a 13-10 advantage
- Three straight LR errors tied it at 13
- Cleaver's kill gave Lenoir-Rhyne a 16-14 lead
- Blocks from Johnson and Morland tied it at 16
- An Aeschliman kill gave the Bears a 19-17 advantage
- Kills from Morland and Van Heyst capped a 3-0 run that put the 'Dogs on top 20-19
- Osborne's kill tied it at 20, but Wingate responded with a huge 4-0 run
- Stacherski and Van Heyst started the spurt with kills; a kill and a block from Johnson made it 24-20
- Johnson and Van Heyst teamed for a block to give the 'Dogs another title

UP NEXT

- The Bulldogs have earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
- This will be the SAC-best 20th appearance all-time and 19th consecutive NCAA Tourney bid
- Wingate has been the top-ranked team in every NCAA Southeast Region poll this season
- The 'Dogs have strong chance to earn regional hosting duties for this year's regionals
- Wingate has hosted 10 of the last 15 NCAA Southeast Regional tournaments
- The field will be announced live Monday at 7:30 p.m. on NCAA.com
- The regionals will take place Dec. 5-8