Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

WINGATE, N.C. - For the first time since 2004, the Lenoir-Rhyne volleyball team not only won on the road at Wingate, but swept the season series against the Bulldogs as well. The Bears broke both streaks on Tuesday evening with a big five set victory on the road. 

The Bears won this matchup despite the Bulldogs leading in nearly every statistical category, including points, kills, hitting %, aces, assists, and digs. Lenoir-Rhyne was led on both offense and defense by Averie Dale, who was tops on the team with 15 kills and six blocks.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 3, Wingate 2 (25-18, 14-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-12)
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (11-5, 9-3 SAC), Wingate (11-6, 7-5 SAC)
Location: Wingate, N.C. | Cuddy Arena

STORY OF THE MATCH:

• Following a 5-0 run, Lenoir-Rhyne opened up a 13-7 lead in the opening set.
• Wingate never got closer than four and an Averie Dale and Brooke Aeschliman block sealed the set win.
• Leading 18-14, the Bulldogs scored the final seven points to take set two.
• The Bears led 7-2 early in set three before Wingate stormed back to tie things at 10-10.
• Tied at 23-23, Dale took two perfect passes from Sydney Karjala and powered them home to win set three 25-23.
• The Bulldogs went up 14-2 in the fourth set and never looked back, cruising to the 10-point victory.
• The final set was a back-and-forth battle before the Bears went on a late 4-1 run to go up 14-10.
• A service error by Wingate ended the match.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

• Averie Dale led the Bears with 15 kills on a .433 hitting %.
• Addison Vary (13) and Emmaleigh Allen (10) joined Dale with double digit kills.
• Sydney Karjala posted a season high 27 assists, followed by Alicia Barbarito's 21.
• Julie Donato set a new career high with 16 digs.
• The Bears hit .218 for the match, compared to .282 for Wingate.
• The fifth set saw Wingate hit .600 and Lenoir-Rhyne hit .421.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Wingate still leads the all-time series 64-22.
• This is just Lenoir-Rhyne's fourth ever season sweep of the Bulldogs (1989, 1999, 2004, 2026).
• Averie Dale now has 301 blocks for her career, becoming the 10th individual in program history to reach the 300 block mark.
• Head coach Nicole Barringer sits at 98 wins at Lenoir-Rhyne.
• The Bears sit in solo second place in the SAC standings, two games behind Anderson.

UP NEXT: Lenoir-Rhyne continues their road trip on Saturday when they hit the road to visit the Coker Cobras. Coker is 7-9 (2-8 SAC) on the year and fell 3-0 to Newberry earlier tonight. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.