GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Newberry Wolves found themselves on the wrong end of a South Atlantic Conference sweep as the Tusculum Pioneers were 25-21, 25-19, 25-20 victors in Pioneer Arena on Friday night.

With the loss, Newberry drops to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in SAC play. The Wolves will play at Mars Hill at 5 p.m. Saturday, following the completion of the Newberry-Mars Hill football game, giving Wolves fans an excellent opportunity to support more than one team on the road. Tusculum is now 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the league.

Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had a team-high nine kills for Newberry, while Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.) had eight kills. Elayni Stokes (Houston, Texas) led Newberry with 17 digs, but the Wolves struggled overall on offense, hitting only .057 in the match compared to the Pioneers' .198.

Tusculum jumped out to a quick lead in the first set, leading by as many as five points before the Wolves battled back to cut the deficit to one point at 15-14. Newberry was unable to get the set tied up and a 3-0 run late in the set gave the Pioneers a 25-21 win in the set. Prachar had four kills without an error in the set, but the Wolves had too many swings dug out by Tusculum, which had 22 digs in the set.

Newberry's hitting improved in the second set, but it seemed the Pioneers could not miss, as the hosts hit .324 in the set. There were 11 ties and six lead changes early in the set, but after a 15-all tie, Tusculum scored five straight points to pull away. Prachar had five kills, while Parrish and Jessica King (Los Angeles, Calif.) each had three. TC's Alyssa Raterman had eight kills without an error on nine swings to lead the Pioneers.

The Tusculum block in the third set led to the eventual sweep, as the Pioneers had six blocks in the set and held Newberry to a minus-.150 percentage in the final set. Despite the rough go, the Wolves showed some fight in the closing stages, fighting off match point five times before the match went final.