Lions Fall Just Short Against #14 Wingate

MARS HILL, N.C.-- Mars Hill's volleyball team pushed #14 Wingate to four sets, but fell to the Bulldogs in a South Atlantic Conference match Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena.

Wingate was able to outlast Mars Hill by 27-25, 21-25, 25-19 and 25-17 scores. Marissa Wixson became the fifth Lion in school-history to reach 1,000 career kills, notching 13 kills during the match. MaryKate Griffin led MHU with 16 kills. Anna Hilton paced Wingate with 17 kills and 16 digs. Mars Hill falls to 9-6 overall and 7-4 in SAC matches. The Bulldogs remained a perfect 11-0 in conference play and improved to 15-2 on the season.

Maggie Murphy notched a team-high 25 digs for Mars Hill. Victoria Kaiser added five kills and 19 digs, while Christen Nicholson chipped in with 18 digs. Courtney Worthing had 29 assists for MHU.

Lexi Potter added 13 kills for Wingate, while Susie Murach notched 10. Stephanie Tassone notched a match-high 28 digs. Thge Bulldogs recorded 15 blocks as a team, with Hilton and Allison Rickher assisting on eight each.

Neither team led by more than two points in a tight first set. Wingate knotted the match at 22-22 on a block. The two teams traded points until the score got to 25-25, before the Bulldogs put away the set on a block and a kill by Hilton.

Mars Hill broke open a 15-15 tie with a three-point run and never trailed the rest of the set. A pair of kills by Wixson sparked the run. Wingate was within one several times, including as late as 22-21. Kills by Griffin and Toni Cole and a WU attack error gave MHU the set, 25-21.

Four-straight by Wingate in the third set gave WU a 20-16 lead. A kill by Cole momentarily halted the run, but the Lions would get no closer than four the rest of the way. Wixson recorded her 1,000th-career kill in the set.

A kill by Wixson gave MHU an early 4-3 lead in the fourth set, but three straight by Wingate gave the Bulldogs a lead they would not relinquish. WU would lead by as much as 10 on their way to closing it out, 25-17. Mars Hill is just the third SAC team to push Wingate to four sets this season.

Mars Hill will start the second half of conference play Tuesday when they host Lincoln Memorial at 7:00 p.m. in Stanford Arena.