Tusculum College advanced to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament semifinals with a 3-1 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne University Friday afternoon at Mars Gym on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University. The Pioneers won by scores of 25-23, 18-25, 25-16 and 25-18 and will face top-seeded, undefeated and 14th-ranked Wingate Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the semifinals.

The Pioneers (18-11), who defeated the Bears (17-15) for the third time this season, were led by Sam Underwood who finished with 13 kills and 11 digs. Kassie Voelker and Bailee Price each added 11 kills, with Price contributing 14 digs to complete the double-double. Lenoir-Rhyne received 11 kills from Chelsea Hill and a match-high 18 digs from Emily Culler.

Tusculum roared out to a 7-0 lead in the first set and built their advantage to 10-1, but Lenoir-Rhyne rallied to within 22-18. An ace by Price put the Pioneers on the cusp of the set victory at 24-18, but the Bears reeled off five straight points to cut the deficit to 24-23. Megan Hasse provided the winning point for the Pioneers with a kill to give Tusculum the first set by a 25-23 score.

Lenoir-Rhyne, which hit .099 for the match as a team, took the second set 25-18 behind a strong .294 hitting percentage. The Bears took the lead for good after an early 6-6 tie, and maintained a margin of five to seven points for most of the set.

In the third set, the Bears went ahead 9-6 on a kill by Brooke Christenbury, but four straight points from the Pioneers gave Tusculum a 10-9 lead. Lenoir-Rhyne came right back to restore their three-point lead at 14-11, but the Pioneers used the serve of Caitlyn Dean to score eight straight points to go on top 19-14. Underwood had three kills during the run, including two straight to give Tusculum a five-point edge. The Pioneers finished the set with a 5-0 run, with kills from Voelker and Ashley Sarmiento producing the final two points and a 25-16 win.

Tusculum took charge in the fourth set with a 9-1 run to turn a 3-3 tie into a 12-4 lead. Lenoir-Rhyne pulled within 13-9, but kills by Brianna Anderson and Underwood and an attack error from the Bears sent the Pioneers on their way toward a match victory. Tusculum closed out the set and match 25-18 on an attack error by Lenoir-Rhyne, the seventh of the set and 27th of the match by the Bears.

Sarmiento finished with a match-high 46 assists for the Pioneers, while Dean led Tusculum with 17 digs. Up front, Voelker, Taylor Boone and Sarmiento each notched three blocks while Anderson added a pair of block assists. Hill led Lenoir-Rhyne with five blocks, while the Bears' two-setter system combined for 35 of the team's 41 assists.

Wingate, Tusculum's opponent on Saturday, survived a five-set match with eighth-seeded Carson-Newman in the opening match of the tournament Friday afternoon. The Bulldogs won 25-12, 25-16, 21-25, 24-26, 15-10 over the Eagles to continue their pursuit of a sixth straight Food Lion SAC Tournament championship. Last year, Wingate defeated Tusculum 3-1 in the championship match.