HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Newberry Wolves upset the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters Friday night to lock up the seventh seed in the South Atlantic Conference tournament next weekend. The Wolves took a convincing 3-1 win.

Newberry (15-13, 9-12) controlled every offensive category as they lead Lincoln Memorial (16-13, 12-9) in kills (52), hitting percentage (.155), assists (49) and service aces (10). The Wolves also led the Railsplitters in digs 81 to 78 but LMU edged out an advantage in team blocks 10 to six. 

The first set saw hardly any offense but the Wolves used six service aces to propel them to a 25-20 victory. Newberry hit -0.026 but held the Railsplitters to hit at a .000 clip. After a 10-all tie, the Wolves used a 10-2 run to extend the lead to 20-12. Lincoln Memorial did not give in as they closed the gap to 23-20. After a Newberry timeout, two Railsplitter attack errors wrapped up the frame.

The offense picked up in the second set as Newberry put turned in a .220 hitting mark while Lincoln Memorial was held to .062. Coming out of a 9-all stalemate, the Wolves put together a 12-5 run to go up 21-14. The seven point advantage was all Newberry needed as they allowed only five more points to take the frame 25-19 and go up 2-0.

Newberry came off the tracks in the third set as they were plagued by attack errors. The Wolves took an early 10-4 edge but the Railsplittes came climbing back to tie the stanza up at 16 apiece.  After an 18-17 score Lincoln Memorial scored seven straight to take set number three and avoid the sweep 25-17.

Newberry came out with a vengeance in the fourth frame hitting at a blazing .340 with 19 kills and only three miscues. A 6-6 draw was the only time Lincoln Memorial contested Newberry the entire set. After the tie, the Wolves outscored the Railsplitters 19-10 to wrap up a 3-1 win with a 25-16 decision.

The senior duo of Lauren Prachar and Amanda Soper paced the Wolves. Prachar turned in her first double-double of the season, totaling 12 kills with a .324 hitting percentage and 17 digs while Soper also put away 12 kills of her own. Jessica King had nine terminations while sophomore Logan Hayward and senior Elayni Stokes directed the defensive effort with 23 and 21 digs, respectively. Sophomore Ashley Minor handed out 25 assists and picked up two aces while junior Rachel Moran passed out 20 assists and picked apart the Railsplitters serve receive with four service aces.

Newberry wraps up the regular season with the Carson-Newman Eagles at 3 p.m. in Jefferson City, Tennessee.