NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Newberry College volleyball team competed hard against the Wingate Bulldogs but came up short Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena, 1-3 (21-25, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25).

Lorena Maia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) played very well and filled up the box score with 12 kills, 3.5 blocks and an attack percentage of .400. Priscila Sales (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) also had a strong outing with a match high 17 kills to go along with eight digs. Brianna Blakely (Houston, Texas), Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas) and Nadia Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) all tied for the team digs lead with 14. Blakely also earned a team high 29 assists.

Stormi Gale (Richmond, Texas) was on top of her game Wednesday night with a team high 16 kills. She also added nine digs and an attack percentage of .351. Lauren Billo (Orlando Park, Ill.) attacked the ball well with 14 kills and an attack percentage of .519. Maggie Malone (Chicago, Ill.) led the Bulldogs in digs with 19 and Elizabeth Willis (Raleigh, N.C.) led her team in assists with 38.

The top team in the South Atlantic Conference came into the game hungry and earned the first five points of the opening set. The scarlet and gray stayed calm and battled back to a 10-all tie. From then on it was an intense battle as neither team gave up the advantage. Unfortunately for the home crowd, Wingate finished strong and won four of the last five points. Newberry dropped the first set, 21-25. Despite the loss, Dani Hroblak (Lake Wylie, S.C.) still played solid earning three kills on five attacks.

The second set was much different as Newberry took care of the ball much better than they did in the first. With the score tied at 8-all, the scarlet and gray went on a 9-2 run to give themselves a huge advantage over the Bulldogs. They played solid defense from then on out and refused to let Wingate come within four points. They came up victorious in the set, 25-17. Maia was a big help to Newberry in the second set earning kills on all four of her attacks.

Wingate came out of the set break fired up and earned an early advantage. Newberry battled hard and almost tied the set on numerous occasions. Unfortunately the Wingate offense was too strong as they dropped the set, 17-25. Sales led her team in kills with five in the third set.

Wingate once again came out strong in the fourth set but Newberry refused to be put away quietly. For the first half of the set the scarlet and gray never led but kept themselves in the set. They managed to tie the set at 19-all, but then gave up six of the next seven points. They dropped the final set, 20-25. Blakely played strong in the fourth set leading her teams in both assists (9) and digs (5).

With the loss, the Newberry College volleyball team now falls to 16-8 overall and 8-4 in the SAC, which puts them in a three-way tie for second place in the conference. Wingate improves its record to 24-1 overall and 13-0 in conference play, clinching the SAC regular season championship and the top seed in the Food Lion SAC Tournament.

Next up for the scarlet and gray will be a road trip to Catawba this Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a 1p.m Saturday match at Lenoir-Rhyne. They will return home on November 5 to take on North Greenville at 7 p.m. Wingate is off until Friday, November 7, when the Bulldogs travel to Carson-Newman.