HICKORY, N.C. – For the fifth time in program history and first as a No. 1 seed, the Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball Team will compete in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears open tournament play on Thursday at noon as they face off against No. 8 Francis Marion.
The Bears made trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, 2012, 2014 and 2015 prior to earning a bid this year thanks to a South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship. With LR's 3-2 win over Anderson, the Bears clinched a spot in the Big Dance and also locked up the top seed.
LR is 2-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament history with both of those wins coming in 2015 as LR made a run to the Sweet 16. The Bears were a No. 7 seed who upset Flagler and Lander before falling to Carson-Newman in the Regional Final.
Despite a 22-7 mark and a 14-4 record in conference play, the Bears only had two players selected to the All-Conference squad.
Taylor Prall earned her third straight First Team All-Conference selection and libero
Rachel Bewick earned First Team All-SAC honors for the first team.
Prall is one kill away from topping 400 kills in a season for the second time in her career. The only other players to have multiple 400-kill seasons in their career are Michelle Baity (1998-01) and Rebekah Steinline (2002, 2004). Prall ranks second in program history behind only Baity in career kills and kills per set and was the first LR player to ever be named an AVCA All-American.
Bewick ranks second in the league with 5.63 digs per set, a number that ranks third for a season in program history. The senior owns 630 digs on the year and is up to 1,189 for her career which places her just outside the top 10.
All-Conference snub
Emma Clark is hitting .315 on the year, which ranks third in the conference, and her 1.19 blocks per set also places her third in the league. Fellow middle hitter
Braelyn Faust is seventh in the league in total blocks with 98 making LR the only SAC program with two players in the top seven in the league in blocks.
Colette Romp has really stepped up her game as of late, leading LR with 21 kills in the SAC Championship win over Anderson and added 19 kills in a SAC Quarterfinal win over Carson-Newman. In total, Romp has double-digit kills in five of her last six matches.
Setter
Mackenzie Hulsey had three straight double-doubles in the SAC Tournament and totaled 152 assists and 47 digs in those three wins. Her 55 assists against Carson-Newman ranked as a career-high and she followed it up with 54 more helpers in the championship against Anderson.
Francis Marion captured the Conference Carolinas' automatic bid with its five-set win over North Greenville last Saturday. The Patriots also won the league's East Division championship with a 15-2 mark in the school's first year as a conference member. Overall, the team's 21 victories equal the most wins in 13 seasons.
This will be the Patriots' fourth-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, joining the 1998, 2005 and 2008 squads.
The two programs have met 20 times with each side claiming 10 victories. The last time the two met was in September of 2019 with LR handing FMU a 3-0 defeat.
