Bears Battle But Fall in Five Sets in Regional Final

ANDERSON, S.C. – The top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball Team rallied from a 2-1 deficit and trailed 21-17 in the fourth set before rallying to force a fifth frame. However, sixth-seeded Augusta would win the fifth set and capture the Southeast Regional Championship.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
 
Final: Augusta 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 2
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (24-8), Augusta (25-8)
Location: Anderson, S.C. | Abney Athletic Center
 
STATS OF THE MATCH:

• Lenoir-Rhyne trailed 13-8 in the first set before staging a big comeback. LR would come all the way back to take a 20-19 lead, their first since being up 4-3 early.
• After trading points, LR pulled ahead with back-to-back points. Augusta cut it to 24-23 but Taylor Prall's fourth kill of the frame gave the Bears a 25-23 win.
• It was all Augusta early in the second as the Jaguars scored 15 of the first 20 points. LR refused to give in and used a 15-8 spurt to cut the lead to 23-20. However, Augusta would close it out with consecutive points to hand LR its second set loss of the weekend.
• The Bears held a 21-17 lead late in the third set but Augusta put together a 6-1 run to take a 23-22 advantage to force a timeout. Augusta would score two more and close out the set with an 8-1 run to steal a 25-22 win.
• It was LR's turn to erase a 21-17 deficit. In the fourth set, the Bears battled back and Ashley Hawkins' kill gave LR a 26-24 win to force a fifth and deciding set.
• LR ran out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set to force an Augusta timeout.
• Augusta would dig out of the early hole and even the set at 7.
• The Jaguars would eventually take a 9-8 lead and cause an LR timeout.
• LR would be dealt another tough blow at 11-9 in the fifth set when All-Conference and All-Region libero and captain Rachel Bewick went down with an injury. From that point on, LR wouldn't score a point as Augusta won 15-9 in the fifth set.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

• This is the second all-time trip to the Sweet 16 for Lenoir-Rhyne. They also advanced to the Regional Final in 2015.
• In total, Lenoir-Rhyne earned its first number one seed in program history and advanced further than all but one team in program history. LR also won just the second SAC Tournament in program history.
• Prall would finish with 14 kills and 18 digs and Hawkins had 12 kills and 15 digs.
• Mackenzie Hulsey set an LR NCAA Tournament record with 45 assists and Bewick finished with 36 digs.