BREVARD, N.C. --- The Tusculum volleyball team rallied from a one-set deficit to claim a 3-1 victory over Lincoln Memorial Saturday to advance to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament title match on Sunday.
The No. 2-seed Pioneers (22-6) won the match by scores of 25-27, 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 over the third-seeded Railsplitters (21-13).
Tusculum will face top-seeded and six-time defending tournament champion Wingate, who swept Newberry in Saturday's first semifinal.
TC rookie Danae Stauffer led the charge with 15 kills, while Megan Hasse and Kassie Voelker tallied 14 kills each.
Tusculum recorded a season-high 11 service aces in the match, including four by Caitlyn Dean, and two each by Sam Underwood and Hannah Berling. Berling also contributed 23 assists, while Ashley Sarmiento also tallied 23 helpers and 11 digs for the Pioneers. Dean led Tusculum's defensive efforts with 21 digs to go along with seven assists.
Blaire Fowler posted a double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs, while Kaitlin Walton and Allison Beavers recorded 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
Tusculum roared out to a 17-9 lead in the opening set following back-to-back blocks. LMU cut away on the deficit to trail 20-17 following a Fowler service ace. After a TC timeout, Tusculum increased the lead to 23-20, but LMU followed with four straight points, including blocks by Fowler and Walton as the Railsplitters led 24-23. Underwood would tie it at 24-24 with a kill. The two teams would exchange points to make the score 25-25, but LMU would win the set with back-to-back kills by Allison Beavers as the Splitters won the frame, 27-25.
The Pioneers evened the match at a set-apiece as TC scored the first four points of the stanza and led wire-to-wire in claim a 25-15 decision in the second set. Tusculum posted a .360 team hitting percentage and tallied seven of its 11 aces, as Dean accounted for her four aces of the match and Underwood posted a pair. TC jumped out to an 8-1 lead and later used an 8-0 run to post its largest advantage of the set at 18-4.
LMU opened up a 7-2 lead in the third set following a kill by Jazzy Oates. But following a timeout by Tusculum, the Pioneers answered with seven unanswered points to take a 9-7 lead thanks to three kills and a block by Voelker. The two teams would go back and forth with LMU taking a 19-16 lead on a Walton kill. TC called its second timeout of the frame and the Pioneers responded with an 8-3 run, including three kills by Hasse as the Pioneers won the set 25-22 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was a battle that saw seven lead changes and 10 ties. LMU enjoyed its biggest lead at 15-11 thanks to blocks by Walton and Oates. TC responded with a 6-2 spurt to take an 18-17 lead following a Berling ace and a Hasse kill. LMU would regain the advantage at 22-20 on a Fowler service ace. TC would trail 23-21, but roared back with the final four points of the match, including an ace by Bailee Price and kills from Sarmiento and Hasse to claim a 25-23 win to punch the Pioneers ticket to Sunday's championship match.
Tusculum finished with a .253 hitting percentage along with eight total blocks, led by Underwood's five and three from Stauffer.
Sunday will be a rematch of the 2010 SAC Tournament championship as the Pioneers will be making their second trip to the finals in the last three seasons. It will also be the season rubber-match between the two schools. Tusculum posted a 3-1 win over Wingate in September to halt the Bulldogs record conference winning streak at 83 in a row. Wingate won the rematch in Greeneville last month in four sets.
Tusculum's nine-match winning streak is the third-longest since the Pioneers reclassified to NCAA Division II (1998-present). The longest DII winning streak for TC is 11 in a row during the 2007 season.
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