Wingate, Carson-Newman, Newberry, Lincoln Memorial Advance In Food Lion SAC Volleyball Tournament

Wingate, Carson-Newman, Newberry, Lincoln Memorial Advance In Food Lion SAC Volleyball Tournament
November 13, 2008

MARS HILL, N.C. -- Top-seed Wingate University, second-seed Carson-Newman College, fifth-seed Newberry College,
and sixth-seed Lincoln Memorial University won quarterfinal matches in the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Mars Hill College.

Friday's semifinals will have Wingate playing Newberry at 1 p.m., while Carson-Newman will face Lincoln Memorial University at 3:30 p.m.

Wingate 3, Brevard 1

The Wingate University volleyball team defeated the Tornados of Brevard College 3-1 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament. The Bulldogs won by scores of 25-11, 17-25, 25-11 and 25-12 to improve to 28-1 on the year and move on to the semifinals Friday afternoon. Wingate will face Newberry College at 1 p.m. Brevard falls to 14-17.

Sophomore middle blocker Stormi Gale (Richmond, Texas) led the Wingate attack with 19 kills, 12 digs and five blocks while hitting .400 for the match. Senior outside hitter Kathryn Reddick (Franklinton, N.C.) along with sophomore outside hitters Lauren Billo (Orland Park, Ill.) and Heather Myklebust (Sugar Land, Texas) added six kills each for the Bulldogs. Freshman setter Liz Willis (Raleigh, N.C.) had 35 assists, nine digs and five aces while freshman libero Maggie Malone (Chicago, Ill.) racked up 21 digs.

Junior outside hitter Chelsey Trojan (Sacramento, Calif.) led the Tornados with nine kills and 16 digs. Junior middle hitter Brooke Seaman (Spring Hill, Fla.) added nine kills for Brevard. Senior setter Jami Perry (Greer, S.C.) had 21 assists and 11 digs while sophomore libero Rebecca Schoonover (Palm City, Fla.) added 16 digs.

Two kills from Reddick, along with a pair of Brevard errors gave Wingate a 12-4 lead in the first set. A kill from Trojan cut the lead to seven at 14-7. A kill from Billo, followed by an ace from Malone gave the Bulldogs a 19-9 advantage. The lead would stay above nine the rest of the way; Gale finished it off with a kill.

The Tornados used a 4-0 run to take an 18-13 lead in the second set. Trojan started the spurt with a kill, followed by a pair of Wingate errors. After a Gale kill cut the lead to four, Trojan responded with a kill to stretch it back to five at 19-14. A kill from Trojan, followed by an ace from freshman defensive specialist Caroline Merrill (Hendersonville, N.C.) stretched the lead to 23-17. Seaman finished off the set with a kill.

A kill from freshman outside hitter Chelsea Larsen (Greer, S.C.) gave the Tornados a 9-8 lead in the third set. Billo answered with a kill to tie the set at nine. Willis would then step up and serve the next 15 points, giving the Bulldogs a 23-9 lead. Gale had two kills and two blocks in the run while Willis added a pair of aces. Myklebust finished off the set with a kill.

A kill from sophomore middle blocker Rebecca Bloemer (Louisville, Ky.) gave the Bulldogs a 12-6 lead in the fourth set. Perry responded with a kill to cut the lead to six. A block from Gale and Reddick, followed by a kill from Gale gave Wingate a 20-10 lead. An ace from Malone, followed by two Brevard errors and another Gale kill made it 24-10. Junior middle blocker Sophie Schellenberger (Dresdeu, Germany) finished off the match with a kill.

Wingate hit .171 for the match, with 44 kills and 19 errors in 146 attacks. The Tornados hit .029, with 33 kills and 29 errors in 136 attacks. The Bulldogs had nine aces, led by Willis. Brevard had five different players with one ace each.

Newberry 3, Tusculum 1

Newberry jumped out to 2-0 lead, lost game three and then eliminated the Pioneers 3-1. Game scores were: 27-25, 25-23, 22-25 and 27-25. Newberry improved to 18-12 and will meet No. 1 seed Wingate on Friday at 1 p.m. Tusculum ends the 2008 campaign, 22-11.

In game one, Newberry jumped out to a 7-3 lead after a kill by Lorena Maia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). TC stormed back and took a one-point (16-15) advantage after a service ace by Katie Luebke (Bellefontaine, Ohio). The teams traded points until they tied at 25-25. A kill and a block by Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas) ended the game at 27-25.

In game two, Newberry again came out of the gates with an early 9-2 lead after a block by Dani Hroblak (Lake Wylie, S.C.). The Pioneers cut the lead to a single point (21-20) when Carly Swisher (Fort Collins, Colo.) put an attack away but that was as close as TC would get. Newberry never trailed in game two.

Game three belonged to the Pioneers. A service ace by Coffaro put the Pioneers up 5-1. Newberry fought back taking a 10-9 lead on a kill from Priscila Sales (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Newberry then took a 14-9 lead before TC made a rally to take the lead for good (22-21) on a service ace by Heather MacArthur (Salt Lake, Utah). Kelsey Hayden (Colorado Springs, Colo.) recorded the final point as TC won game three, 25-22.

Game four was played very close as neither team enjoyed more than a three-point advantage. The lead changed hands nine times before Newberry took the lead for good. With the score tied 25-25, Sales had a successful attack and then a TC attack error gave Newberry the game and the win (27-25).

Maia and Sales led Newberry's offense with 15 and 13 kills in the contest, respectively. Brianna Blakely (Houston, Texas) supplied 40 assists to the hitters while Nadia Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) tallied 24 digs and Harris added 20 digs in the win.

Swisher and Luebke led the Pioneers offense with 17 and 16 kills in the loss, respectively. Peyton Colclough (Manassas, Va.) recorded 37 assists while Erika Garcia led Tusculum's defense with 19 digs. Coffaro had seven kills and 18 digs.

Carson-Newman 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 1

The Carson-Newman College volleyball team (24-13) defeated Lenoir-Rhyne University (15-19), 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-21), in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament at Stanford Arena on the campus of Mars Hill College. Carson-Newman advances to face Lincoln Memorial in the tournament semifinals on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

C-N was led by Kelsey Fleck (Celina, Ohio) and Carly Mozgai (Greensboro, N.C.) as the pair of hitters recorded 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Allyson Corhn (Hendersonville, N.C.) dished out a team-high 27 assists while Haley Bush (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Jessica Schachleiter (Cincinnati, Ohio) tallied 16 digs apiece.

Lenoir-Rhyne senior right side hitter Katie Novacek (Raleigh, N.C./Cardinal Gibbons HS) led the Bears with 11 kills and four blocks in her final collegiate match. Novacek earned All-South Atlantic Conference honors for the third straight year after being named to the All-SAC Second Team.

Lincoln Memorial University 3, Catawba 2

On Thursday evening, the Lincoln Memorial University volleyball team took a monumental step toward winning its first Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament title and possibly earning a bid to the upcoming NCAA Division II Southeast Region Volleyball Tournament.

The SAC's No. 6 seed Lady Railsplitters (20-12) defeated No. 3 seed Catawba College Thursday evening in five sets to advance to their first ever South Atlantic Conference Semifinals to be played tomorrow afternoon. The win over Catawba marks the Lady Railsplitter's first post-season win since 1994 and their first quarterfinal win ever in the SAC Volleyball Tournament.

The Lady Railsplitters lost a tight first set to Catawba 25-23 but bounced in set-two to even the match with a 25-15 victory. Again it was Catawba that took the upper hand in the third set, coming away with a narrow 25-21 win however, LMU came storming back in sets four and five, running the table to take the match with 25-21 and 16-14 victories.

Thursday's win not only puts the Lady Railsplitters in the semifinals of the conference tourmament against Carson-Newman College, it could be the lift needed to earn the team's first ever NCAA Tournament bid regardless of the conference tournament's final outcome. Catawba represented one of the region's top ranked teams entering the tournament and their loss to LMU may just propel the Lady Railsplitters a national appearance.

Offensively, LMU junior Amanda Horenkamp (Murfreesboro, TN) gave an all-conference performance. The 2008 First Team All-South Atlantic Conference selection led the Lady Railsplitters on the night with 19 kills, while teammate and setter Lauren Kiwacka (Tipp City, OH) dished out 43 assists.

LMU's defensive effort was possibly it's best of the season. 2008 Second Team All-South Atlantic Conference selection Alicia MacIntyre (Muncie, IN) set the tone with 24 digs, while sophomore Ashley Knight (Palm Harbor, FL) finished the match with 21, Lauren Kiwacka had 15 and Lady Railsplitter newcomer Krysten Adsuara (Aiea, HI) had 12.

The Lady Railsplitter's performance at the net was without a doubt their biggest defensive contribution to the win. Sophomore Kodi Cartwright (Layton, UT) was like a wall with seven block assists, while teammate Ashley Knight had four and Kiwacka and senior Caitlin Hankins (Fremont, CA) both had three.

Bear junior right side hitter Kassi Henry (Denver, N.C./East Lincoln HS) added 10 kills of her own. Sophomore Hannah Stewart (Statesville, N.C./West Iredell HS) led all players with 34 assists while junior libero Elizabeth Flattery (Sparta, N.C./UNC Greensboro) tallied a team-high 15 digs.