ANDERSON, S.C. -- The Lady Railsplitters (16-14) took the nine-time defending South Atlantic Conference tournament champion Wingate Bulldogs (28-3) to the absolute brink before ultimately suffering a 25-21, 25-20, 16-25, 16-25, 11-15 loss in the semifinal round of the 2015 SAC Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center in Anderson, S.C.
 
With the loss, four-seeded Lincoln Memorial ends its season with a 16-14 record, while the top-billed Bulldogs advance to the SAC Championship title game for the 11th consecutive year to face the winner of Lenoir-Rhyne/Carson-Newman on Sunday.
 
A productive and efficient offensive attack powered the Lady Railsplitters to a two-sets-to-none lead over the Bulldogs, as Lincoln Memorial combined for 29 kills with .270 and .522 respective hitting percentages in the first two frames. But Wingate clamped down in the final three sets, holding the Lady Railsplitters to just 27 total kills with .091, .022 and .250 attack percentages.
 
All-SAC second team selection Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) led the Lady Railsplitters with 17 kills on a .293 attack percentage coupled with eight digs and two blocks. Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) had 14 kills and six digs, while Jazzy Oates (Franklin, Tenn.) and Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) accounted for eight kills apiece. Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) notched five kills and three digs.
 
Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) had 46 assists, 18 digs, two solo blocks and two kills. Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) was one of three Lady Railsplitters to finish with double-digit digs, tallying a match-high 26 scoops, while Bristol Snider (Chattanooga, Tenn.) notched 14 digs.
 
The Bulldogs controlled the pace early in the opening set, using a 4-1 run ended by a Shelly Stumpff kill to build a 10-6 lead. After a kill by Brock briefly halted that spurt, Wingate won six of the next eight points to extend its lead to 16-9. But the Lady Railsplitters responded after taking a timeout, fighting back to tie the set at 21-21 with kills by Fleeman and Holland. That was just a portion of a 16-5 closing run for Lincoln Memorial, who went on to win the set 25-21. Brock and Holland combined for 11 of the Lady Railsplitters' 16 kills in the frame.
 
The Lady Railsplitters carried that momentum into the second set and took a 7-4 lead on an ace by Oates. The Bulldogs drew the score back even at 10-10 on a kill by Stumpff, but Lincoln Memorial responded with a 4-1 spurt to take a 14-11 lead. Following two quick points for the Bulldogs, the Lady Railsplitters ripped off a 6-2 run paced by two kills from Brock to assume a commanding 21-15 advantage. Wingate whittled the lead down to 23-19 late before kills from Holland and Brock clinched the 25-20 victory and gave the Lady Railsplitters a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
LMU and Wingate went back and forth in the third set before meeting in an 8-8 stalemate following yet another kill by Brock. But the Bulldogs completely controlled the next passage of play by rallying off a 7-1 run to take a 15-9 lead on a kill by Anna Holmquist. A kill by Fleeman coupled with back-to-back Bulldog errors trimmed the deficit to 15-12, but Wingate responded with three unanswered points to push the lead back out to six at 18-12. The Lady Railsplitters were never able to close the gap to less than four points after that, as the Bulldogs ended the set on a 4-0 run to win it 25-16.
 
Lincoln Memorial trailed by just a point at 6-5 early in the fourth set, but the Bulldogs once again seized control with a 10-1 run paced by six kills and two service aces. That ballooned their lead to 16-6, which they later increased to 19-8 on an LMU service miscue. The Lady Railsplitters chipped away at the Bulldogs' lead late in the set, but they weren't able to overcome that double-digit point deficit, as Wingate held on for a 25-16 victory to force a fifth set.
 
A 4-0 run fueled by two kills from Katie Bludau, a kill from Holmquist and a Stumpff service ace put the Bulldogs ahead 6-2 early in the fifth set, but the Lady Railsplitters responded with two kills from Holland to make it 6-5. After trading points, the Lady Railsplitters knotted the set at 8-8 with kills from Brock and Cash. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs would win five of the next six points to assume a 13-9 edge. From there, Lincoln Memorial would cut the deficit to three points on two separate occasions, but the Bulldogs never let it get any closer than that in a 15-11 match-clinching victory.
 
The Lady Railsplitters finished with 56 kills, 23 attack errors, a .199 attack percentage, 52 assists and 98 digs as compared to 65 kills, 18 attack errors, a .253 attack percentage, 58 assists and 79 digs for the Bulldogs. Wingate had 12 service errors to the Lady Railsplitters' eight service miscues.
 
SAC Player of the Year Shelly Stumpff led the Bulldogs to victory with a match-high 19 kills on a .327 attack percentage paired with 16 digs. Katie Bludau and Oakley Attaway produced 14 kills apiece, while Anna Holmquist tallied 12 kills. Iris Brewer posted 53 assists and 14 digs, while Kimberly Hovey led Wingate with 20 digs.
 
Quick Hits
The Lady Railsplitters recorded their third-most digs of the season with 98, trailing only their two regular-season matches against Brevard, when they tallied 117 and 108 digs, respectively...Wingate won its 29th consecutive SAC tournament game and improved to 20-0 all-time against the Lady Railsplitters...Wingate hasn't been taken to five sets in the SAC tournament since Tusculum did it in the title game of the 2012 SAC Championship...Saturday marked the final match for the Lady Railsplitters' three seniors, Oates, Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.) and Allison McKinnon (Missouri City, Texas), a trio that comprised the first true recruiting class of head coach Jenny Michael's tenure