HICKORY, N.C. -- The Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball Team dropped a match to Tusculum on Saturday afternoon that dropped the Bears to fourth in the league standings. The Bears fell to the Pioneers in three sets but look to bounce back in the regular season finale against Emory & Henry on Wednesday. The Bears will still earn a home game in the SAC Quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed regardless of the outcome against the Wasps.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Tusculum 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 0
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (19-9, 13-4 SAC), Tusculum (18-6, 14-3 SAC)
Location: Shuford Arena
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- The Bears jumped out to a big lead in the first set but the guests came storming back. LR led 18-10 and looked to close out a first set victory but the Pioneers had other plans.
- Tusculum would go on an 8-1 run to make it 19-18 LR but LR scored three straight to go up 23-19. Tusculum would score six straight to steal the opening set 25-23.
- The Pioneers then used the momentum gained in the first set to earn the sweep with wins of 25-20 and 25-12.
- Emiah Burrows and Aly Freeland each had 11 kills and Whitney Thompson had 10 for the visitors.
- LR was led by 10 kills from Kathy Peter who hit .429 and added a pair of blocks and three digs.
- Lyndsie Warren had 14 digs and Averie Dale handed out a career-high 29 assists to go with nine digs.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- The Bears have dropped back-to-back matches this week and dropped from second to fourth in the SAC.
- Tusculum has won three straight over LR including last year's win in the SAC Quarterfinal.
- The Pioneers hold the head-to-head series 34-24.
UP NEXT: LR will close out the regular season with a match on Wednesday night against Emory & Henry.
