Newberry – The Newberry Wolves dropped match #11 to Lenoir-Rhyne by a score of 3-1 (15-25, 21-25, 25-20, 16-25).

The Wolves entered tonight’s South Atlantic Conference matchup with a 6-4 overall and a 2-3 SAC record while Lenoir-Rhyne entered with a 5-4 overall and a 4-1 SAC record.  

The first set opened with the Bears jumping out to a quick 10-3 lead. The Bears never looked back after the early lead and won the set, 25-15. The second set started out in nearly the same manner. The Wolves kept it close and tied the contest 11-11, but they could not grab the lead. A kill by Lenoir-Rhyne’s Brooke Redmond provided the Bears with a 25-21 second-set victory and 2-0 match lead.

The third set went back and forth with 10 ties before Wolves junior outside hitter Logan Hayward belted a powerful kill to ignite a 7-1 run that eventually led to a set victory for the hosts. Mary Siebert clinched the third-set win with a kill to push play into a fourth set.

The fourth set was a see-saw battle as the conference rivals swapped the lead several times en route to a 13-13 score. Unfortunately for Newberry, the Bears proceeded to mount a 12-3 run, which was capped by a Samantha Bishop kill to lift the visitors to a 3-1 match triumph.

The Wolves were led on the offensive front by Madison Darby-McClure, who tallied 10 kills on 31 attempts while dolling out a trio of block assists on the defensive side. Freshman Kensley Jordan contributed 23 digs in the South Atlantic Conference battle.  Samantha De Jong denied two attacks by the Bears with two blocks. Maggie Marsh added a double double with 38 assists and 14 digs. 

Lenoir-Rhyne was led by Abbi Stacherski with eight kills on 13 attempts giving her a .615 hitting percentage. Emily Steele added seven kills on 16 attempts giving her a .312 hitting percentage. Briana Gottberg held the top spot for the Bears in assists with 22 and 15 digs. Morgan Bunker tallied 14 digs in the win for the Bears.

Newberry will host Brevard College tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.