HICKORY, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball team earned their fourth straight sweep on Friday night inside the Shu, defeating Mars Hill 3-0 to move to 10-2 on the season. Emmaleigh Allen led the Bears with eleven kills for the second consecutive game. Averie Dale had seven kills and five blocks, hitting .545 on the night.

The Bears will now prepare to head to Wingate on Tuesday night as the Bears and Bulldogs are the last two undefeated teams left in the SAC.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 3, Mars Hill 0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-20)
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (10-2, 4-0 SAC), Mars Hill (5-3, 2-1 SAC)
Location: Shuford Arena | Hickory, N.C.

STORY OF THE MATCH:

• After the first point of the game went to the Lions, Lenoir-Rhyne went on a 10-3 run and never looked back.
• Emmaleigh Allen led the Bears with three kills and four digs in a 25-16 opening set victory.  
• With the second set tied at 2-2, Averie Dale had back to back monster kills to quickly dash any hopes of a Mars Hill early run.
• The Bears hit an impressive .400 in the set two victory.
• The Lions were fighting to avoid the sweep and used three straight points to lock the game up at 19-19.
• Alicia Barbarito made a diving dig to spark a rally as the Bears went on to score six of the game's last seven points to finish the sweep.
• The Bears defensive was spectacular, especially late in the third set, holding the Lions to a .019 hitting percentage for the game.
• Hadley Prince, who was named SAC Defensive Player of the Week earlier in the week, had ten digs to lead the Bears. She added a game-high three aces as well. 
• Allen added eight digs to go along with her game-high 11 kills.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Lenoir-Rhyne has now won four straight over Mars Hill. 
• This was Emmaleigh Allen's 35th career game with at least double-digit kills. 
• Hadley Prince is just ten digs away from her 500th career dig as a Bear.
• Mars Hill's 0.19 hitting percentage is the lowest for a Lenoir-Rhyne opponent all season.
• In a weird schedule quirk the Bears play both Wingate and Newberry twice in the next two weeks.

UP NEXT: The Bears will head to Wingate as the last two undefeated teams in the SAC will renew their rivalry on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 21 in the AVCA Coaches poll and are 11-1 on the season. Wingate has been impressive so far with ten sweeps on the young season and have only lost four sets all year. First serve from Wingate is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.