NEWBERRY, S.C. – Newberry College freshman outside hitter Taylor Hall had 16 kills and 14 digs in a 3-1 victory over Wingate on Saturday afternoon. Newberry earned their second win against Wingate in program history.
 
Junior libero Amanda Berecz served to open the match and senior middle hitter Zoe Dinkins recorded a kill for the first point of the day.  Berecz finished with 17 digs, her most of the season so far. Trailing 15-14 in the first set, the Wolves went on a five-point rally behind two services aces from Hall and Newberry took a 19-15 lead. Tied 23-23, Wingate and Newberry alternated scores over the next six points. Tied 26-26, senior outside hitter Natasha Bannister earned two-straight kills and Newberry took set one, 28-26.
 
The Bulldogs built a 10-5 lead in the second set. Once again, Bannister recorded a pair of kills as Newberry began to turn things around and trailed 10-7. After a Wingate point, Newberry was behind 11-7 until the Wolves outscored Wingate 8-1 over the next nine points to take a 15-12 lead, their first advantage of the second set. During the run, Bannister had two more kills and freshman defensive specialist Lauren Black recorded an ace. Bannister finished with 16 kills in the win. Newberry outscored Wingate 10-6 over the last 16 points including a five-point scoring run to win 25-18 and take a 2-0 set lead.
 
Newberry never led in the third set and lost 25-14. Newberry had eight kills in the third set, including three from Hall.
 
The fourth set featured seven ties. Wingate took control shortly after the set was tied 7-7 and took a 14-9 lead. The Bulldogs were the first to 20 points and led 21-17. Newberry scored three-straight points off two Bulldog errors and a kill from Bannister to pull within 21-20. Newberry recorded three more consecutive points after trailing 23-21. Dinkins had a kill and the Bulldogs committed two more errors during the streak as Newberry took a 24-23 lead, their first advantage since going up 7-6 earlier in the set. Wingate tied the set up 24-24, but Newberry rattled off two points on back-to-back kills from Hall to win the set 26-24 and win the match 3-1.
 
FAST FACTS

• Newberry is undefeated (6-0) in the opening two sets this season. They earned their first win in the fourth set this year.
• Hall set a career-high in kills with 16. She is averaging 12.7 kills per match this season and 2.71 kills per set.
• Newberry's only other win against Wingate came on Oct. 15, 2016 when they won 3-1.
• The Wolves are 2-1 in the conference to start the season which marks their best start in the South Atlantic Conference since 2017.
• Newberry had 52 kills in the match (13 kills/set), their most since recording 54 kills (13.5 kills/set) against Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 19, 2019.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Wolves (2-1 SAC) take on Lenoir-Rhyne (2-2 SAC) on Mar. 10 at 7 p.m in Eleazer Arena.