NEWBERRY, S.C. - After a Friday night match that saw the Wolves play the number one team in the conference close through four sets, Newberry couldn't duplicate the same offensive success against Catawba, dropping the match 18-25, 15-25, 17-25.

Newberry could not shake the offensive woes that have seemed to go with them everywhere in the second half of the season. The Wolves hit .071 and committed 14 errors in the setback.

The home team played the Catawba Indians close through the opening points of the first set. Catawba would utilize a 6-0 run after a 7-7 tie to take control of the set for good.

The Wolves would battle back to get as close as three points after a Katie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) kill made things 21-18, but three straight attack errors would spell doom for the Wolves and an additional Catawba kill would put the Wolves in a 1-0 hole.

Big runs would be the theme in the second set. Catawba opened up the set with a 6-1 run before the Wolves responded with a run of their own. Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.), Anne Staudinger (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Davenport would team up for a pair of blocks and a pair of Catawba Indian errors coupled with a kill from Staudinger would knot matters at six.

A tie would be as close as the scarlet and gray would come to grabbing an advantage though. Catawba went on a 10-3 run to open up a 17-9 lead. Newberry couldn't find its rhythm through the remainder of the set, and wound up trailing 2-0. The Wolves hit .000 in the set while the Catawba Indians were able to attack with a .281 percentage.

The Wolves came out swinging in the deciding set. Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas) opened up the set with a kill and a Nadia Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) service ace coupled with a kill from Davenport would give the Wolves a 3-1 edge.

Catawba would charge back and tie the match at nine before the Wolves opened up another spurt. After a kill from Davenport, Harris rattled off two service aces to make it 12-9 in favor of the home team.

The Catawba Indians responded with a decisive 7-2 run to effective seal the match. The Wolves would only score three more points in the match, and an Indian kill and a Newberry attack error would close out the match.

Parrish led the way for the Wolves with eight kills, 12 digs and a pair of block assists. Davenport chipped in seven kills and piled up four block assists as well as a dig and an assist in a well-played match.

Brianna Blakely (Houston, Texas) had a team-high 16 helpers to go along with eight digs.

Despite the loss, the Wolves have made it into the SAC tournament for the 14th straight season. Newberry and Lenoir-Rhyne finished the regular season with identical records but the Wolves hold the tiebreaker with a regular season sweep of the Bears. The Wolves will play the No. 1 seed Wingate in a SAC quarterfinal match on Friday (Nov. 12).