WINGATE, N.C. – The two-seeded Wingate Bulldogs (25-2) hit .529 to end the seven-seeded Lady Railsplitters' (13-16) season with a 25-9, 25-13, 25-14 win in the quarterfinals of the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Championship on Tuesday night at Curry Arena.
 
Lincoln Memorial had a respectable offensive performance with 27 kills on a .200 attack percentage, but that was completely offset by the Bulldogs' astounding effort on that side of the net. Wingate – winners of 10 of the last 11 SAC tournaments – put 50 of its 85 attempts away and only made five errors to finish with a .529 attack percentage. That's the highest attack percentage allowed by Lincoln Memorial since those same Bulldogs hit .551 in October 2015.
 
In what proved to be her final career match, Kiera Holland led the team with eight kills, finishing two shy of matching Ahleasha Matthews for second in the program's career history. She will leave LMU with 1,322 career kills.
 
Alicia Kessler chipped in with seven kills on a .375 attack percentage, while Rylee Storms had six. Lindsey Nartker was the only other player with multiple kills for the Lady Railsplitters with three. Olivia Brock produced 11 assists, while Erica Whiteaker led the team with seven digs. Whiteaker ends the season with 678 digs, nearly 100 more than the program's previous single-season record.
 
Wingate was led by Rachael Cecka, who amassed a game-high 14 kills on just 24 swings. Katie Bludau added nine kills without an error on 12 attempts, while Phoebe Havenaar tacked on eight kills on 13 tries. Anna Holmquist notched seven error-free kills as well. Rachel Alles collected 33 assists to lead all players. Kori Adams led the match with 19 digs.
 
The Bulldogs put away 15 kills on just 25 swings and added five aces to rout the Lady Railsplitters in the opening set. After a kill from Nartker cut the Wingate lead to 7-4, the Bulldogs ripped off nine unanswered points capped by two aces and a kill from Holmquist to take a commanding 16-4 lead. Lincoln Memorial accounted for just five points after that, while Wingate ended the 25-9 win on a 3-0 run compliments of back-to-back kills from Bludau.
 
The Lady Railsplitters hung with the Bulldogs early in the second set, cutting the deficit to 8-7 on a kill by Alicia Kessler. However, Wingate won a point in 11 of the next 13 rallies to take a 19-9 lead. Lincoln Memorial was unable to close the gap to less than nine after that, while kills from Alles, Lynnlee Mather and Bludau comprised a 3-0 closing run to end the Bulldogs' 25-13 win.
 
Lincoln Memorial went point for point with Wingate at the start of the third set and trailed just 10-9 after a kill by Holland and a block by Storms and Tone Gill. But the Bulldogs took command after that with a 9-1 run. A kill from Cecka pushed Wingate ahead 20-10 and they would never lead by less than eight. Like the two preceding sets, the Bulldogs ended the third frame on a 3-0 run to capture a 25-14 match-clinching win.
 
Quick Hits
 
- The 13 wins are the fewest for the program since the 1994 team went 12-17.
 
- The Lady Railsplitters have now lost 12 consecutive sets against Wingate and 17 of the last 20 overall. The loss also dropped Lincoln Memorial to 1-25 in the all-time series against Wingate.
 
- Lincoln Memorial lost in the first round of the SAC tournament for the first time since the 2014 season.