WINGATE, N.C. - The Newberry Wolves started their South Atlantic Conference schedule with their toughest test, fighting valiantly before falling 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-14) to the No. 16 Wingate Bulldogs at Cuddy Arena on Friday night.

With the loss, Newberry falls to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in SAC play, while Wingate is now 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the league. Newberry plays at Coker at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the two school's first meeting as SAC opponents in any sport.

Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.) led Newberry with eight kills and 10 digs, while Alexus Horton (Austin, Texas) and Jessica King (Los Angeles, Calif.) each put away six kills. Rachel Moran (Cypress, Texas) passed out 16 assists, but the Wolves managed to hit only .067 as a team in the match.

The Bulldogs hit .250 in the match, including a .367 rate in the third set, as Shelly Stumpff's 10 kills led all players.

In the first set, Newberry scored the opening two points, but the hosts responded well and jumped out to a 12-8 lead. Kills from Horton and Logan Hayward (Sylvania, Ohio) as well as a WU error got the Wolves to within one point before Wingate scored five straight points to take a strong lead at 17-11. Newberry was in dire straits at a 22-14 disadvantage, but fought back well, getting back to within five before the Bulldogs took the opening set.

Wingate opened strong in the second set as well, scoring seven straight points after Newberry scored the opener. The Wolves trailed by as many as eight points in the set before chipping away and eventually narrowing their deficit to as few as three at 23-20. Unfortunately for the scarlet and gray, the Bulldogs closed out the set with two straight points to take a 2-0 lead.

In the final set, Wingate's attack was clicking, making it hard for the Wolves to mount a comeback as they had in the previous sets. The Wolves trailed by only three at 12-9, but Wingate scored six straight to pull away and Shelby Nassar's service ace on match point sealed the home team's win.