Wingate Eliminated by Concordia-St. Paul in NCAA Volleyball National Quarterfinals

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Southeast Region champion Wingate University Bulldogs took the opening set from top-ranked and five-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul Thursday afternoon, but the Golden Bears rallied for a 3-1 win to advance to the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship national semifinals.

Concordia won by scores of 22-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-18 to improve to 31-4 overall, winning its 34th straight NCAA Tournament match. Wingate sees its 23-match winning streak come to an end, finishing the season at 32-3 overall.

The Bulldogs were making their second Elite Eight appearance in three years. The only volleyball team in SAC history to win a regional title, the Bulldogs have collected 11 NCAA Tournament victories in the past five years. The Bulldogs continue to own the nation's best winning percentage since 2007, holding an overall record of 195-12. Wingate won its second regional title in 2012, while also winning its seventh consecutive SAC regular season and Tournament championship.

"We are really proud of how we played today," head coach Shelton Collier says. "We knew we were playing the number one team in the country, with a bunch of first team All-Americans, so our players responded by elevating their games and really hanging tough. This was the best team Wingate has ever played against, so for us to represent ourselves so well is very rewarding. We accomplished some great things this year, and we are proud that we played some great volleyball at a national championship event. This was a great opportunity for our players and I am proud of them for hanging in tough. We are proud of the way we represented Wingate University."

Second team All-American Ellie Duffy (Fridley, Minn.) led the Golden Bears with 17 kills on the afternoon. First team All-American Cassie Haag (Plymouth, Minn.) added 15 kills and four blocks, hitting .333 on the match. First team All-American Kayla Koenecke(Delano, Minn.) registered 12 kills and 20 digs, hitting .323. First team All-American setter Amanda Konetchy (Victoria, Minn.) handed out 53 assists, while Ashley Murtha(Apple Valley, Minn.) added eight kills and 19 digs for the Golden Bears.

"First I'd just like to say congrats to Wingate on an incredible season to get out of their region and win their conference," Concordia head coach and three-time National Coach of the Year Brady Starkey says. "I thought their girls played with a ton of heart and passion. They scrapped for every single point and never gave up. You can tell that they are a very well coached team. They played really disciplined. They had a game plan and did a really good job of sticking to that game plan. I think a lot of the teams that we play they tend to have a game plan coming in and they waiver from that plan quickly, so hats off to his girls for how disciplined they are and for how hard they played that they actually stuck with the game plan the whole time; they really gave us fits."

Third team All-American right-side hitter Anna Hilton (Hickory, N.C.) had 13 kills and nine digs to lead the Wingate attack. SAC and region Freshman of the Year Shelly Stumpff (Iowa City, Iowa) added 10 kills and 16 digs for the Bulldogs. Two-time Elite 89 Award winner Grace Krauser (Louisville, Ky.), the team's lone senior, had eight kills in her final match at Wingate, hitting .300 on the day. All-Region selection Lexi Potter(North Liberty, Iowa) had seven kills and three blocks, hitting .300 on the afternoon, while first team All-SAC outside hitter Susie Murach (Burke, Va.) had eight kills and nine digs. Redshirt sophomore setter Alison Cooke (Davidson, N.C.) piled up 38 assists, nine digs, four kills and three blocks, while sophomore libero Stephanie Tassone (Chicago, Ill.) collected a match-high 25 digs.

"It was an exciting match," Murach says. "We knew Concordia would be a great team but we knew we had to play with all our heart. We are proud of how far we have come and what we have accomplished. We are going to keep working hard and keep pushing. We still have a lot of stuff to work on and we hope to come this far again next year."

Kills from Krauser and Hilton gave Wingate a 13-11 lead in the opening set, but the Golden Bears answered with a 7-1 run to take an 18-14 advantage. Murtha had a kill and a block in the spurt, while Koenecke capped it with a kill. A Concordia error and Cooke kill trimmed the lead to two at 19-17, but a Duffy kill and Wingate error made it 21-17. A Cooke kill and Concordia error made it 21-19, but a Wingate error gave the Golden Bears a 22-19 advantage. The Bulldogs had the emphatic response, scoring the last six points of the set. Two Krauser kills and a Concordia error tied the set at 22, while another Concordia error put the Bulldogs on top. Hilton slammed home a kill to give Wingate set point, while an ace from Stumpff put Wingate on top 1-0 in the match. The Bulldogs had 15 kills in the first set, holding Concordia to a hitting percentage of .091, well below its season hitting percentage of .329.

Kills from Murach and Cooke got the Bulldogs to within one at 14-13 in the second set, while a block from Cooke and Potter made it 15-14. A Duffy kill and Konetchy ace, along with two Wingate errors put the Golden Bears on top 20-14. Another Koenecke kill made it 21-15. The Bulldogs would not go away, cutting the lead to two at 21-19. Stumpff and Hilton started the flurry with kills, while a pair of blocks from junior middle blocker Allison Rickher (Matthews, N.C.) forced a Concordia timeout. The Golden Bears came out of the timeout and scored three straight points, taking a 24-19 lead on a Murtha kill. A block from Haag and Murtha capped the set, tying the match at one.

A Murtha kill and two Wingate errors gave the Golden Bears a 12-7 lead in the third set. A kill and a block from Stumpff, followed by back-to-back Cooke aces cut the lead to one at 12-11, forcing another Concordia timeout. The Golden Bears once again came out of the timeout hot, going on a 6-0 run to take an 18-11 lead. Duffy registered three kills in the flurry. Kills from Potter and Stumpff got Wingate to within six at 23-17, but kills from Haag and Duffy capped the set, putting Concordia up 2-1 in the match.

Kills from Krauser and Hilton, along with an ace from Stumpff helped Wingate jump out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. The Golden Bears responded, using a 4-0 run to take a 9-7 lead on back-to-back Duffy kills. A Wingate error pushed the lead to three, but a kill and a block from Stumpff got the 'Dogs back to within one at 12-11. A Koenecke kill made it 15-12, but Hilton answered with a kill to cut it to two. The Golden Bears responded with a 6-2 run to take a 21-15 lead. Haag had three kills and a block in the key spurt. A pair of Stumpff kills, along with a Hilton kill got the Bulldogs back to within four at 22-18, but three consecutive Wingate errors would finish the match.

Concordia-St. Paul hit .244 on the match, the highest hitting percentage a Wingate opponent has hit this season. It is also tied for the second lowest hitting percentage of the year for the nation's top-ranked team. The Golden Bears had 59 kills and 19 errors in 164 attacks, becoming only the second opponent to hit over .200 against the Bulldogs this year. Wingate had 50 kills and 22 errors in 162 attacks, hitting .173 on the day. Cooke and Stumpff led the Bulldogs with two aces each. Wingate's 73 digs were the second most a Concordia opponent has registered this year.

"It was a great experience," Stumpff says. "It was a different experience for us, because usually we are the hunted, but today we were the hunter. We tried our hardest, they are just a great all-around team. We will come back with more experience next year, we know what it feels to be in this position and what it feels like to lose; we will come back and fight even harder next year."

Concordia-St. Paul advances to the Final Four for the sixth straight year, looking for its sixth consecutive national title. The Golden Bears will take on the winner of the BYU-Hawaii vs. West Texas A&M match.

- Wingate media relations