HARROGATE, Tenn. – Katie Bludau powered a potent offensive attack for the Wingate Bulldogs (24-2, 18-2 SAC) in a 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 win over the Lady Railsplitters (13-15, 8-12 SAC) in the regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at Mary Mars Gym. With its third straight loss, Lincoln Memorial earns the No. 7 seed for next week's South Atlantic Conference tournament and will have to make a trip to Wingate to face the Bulldogs again in quarterfinal round action on Tuesday.
Wingate dominated offensively, piling up 52 kills in the three-set match on a sizzling .327 attack percentage. On the other end, Lincoln Memorial was limited to just 28 kills with a .179 clip.
Bludau was mostly unstoppable for the Bulldogs, finishing with a match-high 17 kills on just 27 attempts while adding two aces and two blocks. Phoebe Havenaar added 10 kills on 18 swings, while Racheal Cecka and Anne Abernathy had nine and seven kills, respectively. Rachel Alles produced a game-high 40 assists, while Kori Adams led the team with 10 digs.
Nobody finished with more than six kills for the Lady Railsplitters.
Lindsey Nartker and
Alicia Kessler led the way with six apiece, while
Kiera Holland had five in her final match at Mary Mars Gymnasium.
Rylee Storms and
Tone Gill added four apiece.
Olivia Brock put up 11 assists, and
Erica Whiteaker led the way with 10 digs.
The Bulldogs rode Bludau, Havenaar and Cecka to a come-from-behind win in set one, as those three players combined for 10 of the team's 15 kills with just two errors. The Lady Railsplitters led 18-16 after a kill from Kessler, but a 5-0 run powered by a pair of kills gave Wingate a 21-18 lead. Lincoln Memorial cut it to 22-20 on a desperation dig from Whiteaker that fell on the other side of the net for kill. However, a kill from Bludau capped a 3-0 closing run that gave Wingate a 25-20 victory.
Bludau continued to burn through the LMU defense in the second set, racking up eight kills to help the Bulldogs accumulate 19 as a team with a .459 attack percentage. Bludau recorded four straight kills to push Wingate out to an early 4-1 lead. The Lady Railsplitters never led from that point on, while the Bulldogs used kills from Bludau and Havenaar to extend the lead to 17-10. Lincoln Memorial never trailed by less than five points after that in the 25-16 loss.
Wingate set the pace once again in set three, using four kills and two aces to storm ahead 7-2. The Lady Railsplitters would never lead after that but did fight back to cut the deficit to 18-17 following a kill and back-to-back blocks from Gill. It was a 19-18 Wingate lead two points later, but the Bulldogs ended the set on a 6-1 run powered by two kills from Bludau to complete the sweep.
Quick Hits
- The Lady Railsplitters fell to 1-24 all-time against Wingate following the loss. The Bulldogs have now won the last nine sets in the series and 14 of the last 17 overall.
- The first set was far and away the most competitive with eight ties and four lead changes. After that, there were just two ties and two lead changes combined.
- Despite its win on Saturday, Wingate's streak of 11 consecutive SAC regular-season titles ended as the Anderson Trojans won their 21st straight match to finish 19-1 in league play, one game ahead of the Bulldogs.
Up Next
The Lady Railsplitters will travel to Wingate on Tuesday, November 14 to face the Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the 2017 SAC Championship. Lincoln Memorial has faced Wingate in the SAC tournament in each of the last two seasons, suffering a 3-2 loss in 2015 and a 3-0 loss in 2016.
