Wingate, Carson-Newman Advance To Food Lion SAC Volleyball Tournament Championship

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - Three-time tournament champion Wingate University will face Carson-Newman in the championship match of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament.

Wingate advanced with a 3-1 victory over Catawba, while Carson-Newman won a five-set thriller against Lincoln Memorial, 3-2, in Saturday's semifinals.

The championship match is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday at Pioneer Arena on the campus of Tusculum College.

The championship match will be available to watch on a free video webcast here.

Wingate 3, Catawba 1

Catawba won the opening set in their semifinal match against the top-seeded Bulldogs, but Wingate rallied to take the next three to advance to their fourth straight Food Lion South Atlantic Conference volleyball championship match, 28-30, 25-22, 25-19 and 31-29.

The Bulldogs (33-1) hit 19.2 percent in the match, led by Lauren Billo's 22 kills. Stormi Gale, Grace Krauser and Rebecca Bloemer also were in double-digits in the kills column, while Amanda Clark recorded the double-double with 36 set assists and 18 digs.

Catawba (17-11) was led by Shay Meeks who had 10 kills in the opening set on her way to a match-high 24 kills, connecting on 24.6 percent of her attacks. Kaitlyn Whitmer, 14 kills and 16 digs, and Jordan Raye, 41 set assists and 16 digs, each had double-doubles for the Indians, while libero Mai Zoua Lo recorded a match-high 34 digs.

Meeks had five kills early in the first set as Catawba took a 10-8 lead. The lead extended to 21-15 as Catawba went on a 7-1 run capped by a kill by Whitmer. Wingate would rally back to tie the game at 23 after Janice Ehorn and Gale combined for back-to-back blocks. After staving off set point several times, Catawba would take the opening set 30-28 after a pair of kills by Whitmer and an attack error by Wingate's Jacki Emmenecker.

A service ace by Whitmer tied the second set up at 9, but Wingate would respond with a 6-1 run to take control 15-10, forcing a Catawba timeout. The Indians scored six of the next eight points to cut the deficit back to one at 17-16. The Bulldogs would rally to take the second set 25-22 on Krauser's kill to tie the score up at 1.

Wingate opened up the third set, recording nine of the first 10 points with Krauser and Billo each recording a pair of kills in the run. Catawba used a pair of 3-0 runs to rally back into the game, cutting the deficit to 17-13. The Indians would continue to rally, cutting the lead to two at 21-19 after a kill by Taylor Doss, but Wingate would score the next four points to close out the pivotal third set 25-19.

Catawba opened up the fourth set with a 10-7 lead, stringing together four straight points, before Wingate came roaring back with a 7-1 stretch of their own to go up 14-11. The Indians tied the game up at 17 on a kill by Doss, before the Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 run to go up 22-17. Faced with match point at 24-20, Catawba continued to battle back, recording four straight points to tie the game up at 24. The set would go back-and-forth before Wingate was able to close out the match on a block by Krauser and Bloemer at 31-29.

Carson-Newman 3, Lincoln Memorial 2

Carly Mozgai led all players with 19 kills, including the all-important final one as Carson-Newman advanced to the 2009 Food Lion SAC Tournament final against Wingate with the five set win over Lincoln Memorial, 25-20, 15-25, 30-28, 21-25 and 15-12.

Carson-Newman (22-8) was led by Mozgai's effort and she added seven digs and six blocks in the game. Katie Troyer added 11 kills to the Lady Eagles' totals, while Jessica Schachleiter had six kills, 20 digs and five blocks. Angelle Hayes led all players with 42 digs in the match.

Lincoln Memorial (22-9) had four players reach double-digit kills, led by Lauren Kiwacka and Ashley Knight with 12 apiece, while Amanda Horenkamp and Kodi Cartwright contributed 11. Kiwacka recorded her second straight triple-double, adding 26 assists and 24 digs, while Alicia MacIntyre led the Lady Railsplitters with 29 digs.

Lincoln Memorial opened the first set recording eight of the first 12 points as Richardson placed in a pair of kills. Carson-Newman came back with a 10-4 run of their own to go up 14-12 as Mozgai and Troyer connected. The Lady Eagles would extend the lead to 21-16 on their way to closing out the first set on an LMU service error to go up 1-0 with the 25-20 win.

LMU started out the second set with the hot hand, going up 10-5 as five Lady Railsplitters contributed kills. The separation between the teams would stay consistent as LMU kept the five point lead intact at 15-10 on their way to building a 19-12 lead. The Lady Eagles held off set point twice as Lara McDonald and Mozgai each recorded kills, but Hess put the final point away to tie the match up at 1, 25-15.

Lincoln Memorial was again the first team to 10 in the third set, going up 10-6 as Horenkamp and Kiwacka each had a pair of kills. Carson-Newman responded and tied the game up at 11 as Schachleiter, Clark and James combined for three blocks as the Eagles blocked five LMU attacks in the first 22 points to even the score. The teams would remain knotted up until the Lady Eagles went on a 4-0 run started by a kill by Troyer to take the lead at 20-17. A late surge by Lincoln Memorial tied the game up at 24 but Carson-Newman was able to close out the set with the 30-28 win to go up 2-1.

James put in a pair of service aces in the fourth set, breaking a 5-5 tie but Lincoln Memorial again took the lead, using a 7-1 run to go up 12-9 after a kill by Cartwright. The lead would remain at three at 19-16 as Richardson placed in an ace. LMU would go up 24-19 in the set after Pugh's ace, before closing out the set 25-21 on a block by Hess and Kiwacka to push the game to a fifth set.

Carson-Newman led 8-5 in the deciding set as the teams swapped sides. Troyer extended the C-N lead to 11-5 with a pair of kills. After a kill by McDonald, Lincoln Memorial responded with a 5-0 run to bring the game back within one at 12-11 on Pugh's serve. Carson-Newman closed out the game and clinched the final spot in the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference championship game on Mozgai's 19th kill of the match.