WINGATE, N.C. - The Newberry College volleyball team traveled to Wingate looking to pick up its first win in program history against the Bulldogs. Unfortunately for the scarlet and gray, that elusive first victory would have to wait until another day. The Wolves (10-8, 3-5 SAC) dropped a 3-0 decision to the Bulldogs (14-1, 8-0 SAC) - a team that hadn't surrendered a regular season South Atlantic Conference match in over four years.

“When you play a team that has as much success as Wingate has had over the years you have to play a near-perfect match,” said head coach David Nicholson. “We had our chances, but at the end of the match we couldn't string together points and that's what you need to do to win a match regardless of the opponent.”

The first set saw the teams stay close with the Bulldogs holding a slim 14-11 advantage. The hosts then went on a 11-3 run to end the set, hitting .469 in the first of the three sets.

Wingate picked up right where it left off, opening up a 17-11 lead in the second set. It was then that the Wolves began to chip away at the lead. Using kills from Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas), Sam Parrish (Angola, Ind.), Anne Staudinger (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Leah Nye (Hoover, Ala.) the visitors would go on an 9-2 run and earn their first lead of the match 20-19. The Bulldogs saw the run by the scarlet and gray and matched it with one of their own.

The remainder of the set would by a back and forth affair and would be settled courtesy of some wild extra points. The squads would exchange points and momentum until the score stood at 31 all. It was then that Newberry fell victim to the error. Harris sent a kill attempt into the net and a Parrish attack error on the next point would give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

In the deciding set, Wingate jumped out to a quick lead before Newberry would battle back again to knot things up at eight. The deadlock was as close as the scarlet and gray would come to the lead though, as Wingate controlled the remainder of the match to come away with the triumph via a 25-17 tally.

Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) finished with a team high 13 assists while Harris would pace the Wolves offensively with nine kills to go along with 12 digs, an assist, a pair of service aces and a block assist.

The Wolves finished with a .061 hitting percentage while Wingate stood strong with a percentage of .274.

The Wolves will return to action on Saturday (Oct. 9) when they travel to Catawba to face the Indians. The match is scheduled to commence at 5 p.m.