Hickory, N.C. - The Newberry College volleyball program (12-14, 6-12 SAC) fell in three sets to the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne (19-7, 14-4 SAC) in their final match of the season on Friday.  

The first set would start off back-and-forth with the score being tied on four occasions en route to a 9-9 stalemate. The Bears would take a slight edge, but back-to-back kills from Natasha Bannister followed shortly thereafter by back-to-back kills from Elizabeth Ober would cut the deficit to one point. The Bears would pull ahead with a 4-0 run. The Wolves would keep fighting, but the Bears were able to close out the set 25-20. 

After the Bears would take an early lead with a 5-0 run, the Wolves would answer with a 5-0 run of their own with four out of five of those points ending with a Bannister kill. Despite the runs, both teams would find themselves tied at 10-10. A kill from Margaret McMahon would then kickstart a 5-1 run to give the Wolves the lead. The Wolves would lead by as many as four points, but the Bears came storming back to tie the score at 22-22 with a 5-1 run. A kill from Zoe Dinkins would stave off match point, but it would not be enough as the Bears claimed the set 27-25. 

The third set started off slowly with both teams grinding to an 8-8 tie. However, the Bears would use an 8-0 run to pull ahead. The Wolves would keep fighting, but both teams continued to trade points until the Bears ultimately claimed the set 25-26 and the match 3-0. 

Despite the loss, Bannister would have a strong 17 kill performance to lead the way offensively. Dinkins and Ober had 7 and 6 kills, respectively. Avery Webb finished with a 34 assist, 16 dig double-double, and Amanda Berecz would add 17 digs of her own.