--- Lexi Potter recorded 14 kills and a .737 hitting percentage to lead the ninth-ranked Wingate University volleyball team to a 3-0 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Tusculum College Friday night at Cuddy Arena.

The Bulldogs (25-2, 21-0 SAC) won the match by scores of 25-10, 25-22, 25-21 to record its 22nd consecutive win.

Tusculum, ranked No. 6 in the latest NCAA II Southeast Region poll, slips into a tie for second place in the league standings with Lincoln Memorial University (17-11, 14-7 SAC), who rallied from two sets down to knock off Brevard College 3-2 Friday night. LMU is third in the DII Southeast Region.

Tusculum will close out the regular season on Saturday with a noon match at Coker College (3-26, 0-21 SAC).

Wingate finished the night hitting .291, including .452 in the opening set. Setter Allison Cooke guided the WU offense with her 45 assists to go along with 10 digs and a service ace. Potter paced four WU players with double-digit digs including Anna Hilton's 12 and 10 each by Susie Murach and Shelly Stumpff.

Tusculum senior Kassie Voelker paced the Pioneers (19-9, 14-7 SAC) with seven kills, while hitting .263 on the night, including a sizzling .571 in the second frame. Junior Megan Hasse and sophomore Danae Stauffer tallied six kills each. Sophomore setter Hannah Berling posted a double-double with 11 assists and 10 digs, while senior Ashley Sarmiento tallied seven helpers and eight digs.

Senior libero Caitlyn Dean continues to close in on the NCAA Division II digs record. Her 15 digs on Friday gives her 3,095 for her career, just 17 shy of the DII record of 3,107 held by Holly Morgan of Tiffin University.

Tusculum, who has already clinched the program's eighth consecutive winning season, needs one more victory to secure the Pioneers' third 20-win campaign in the last four years. It would be the 22nd time in school history that Tusculum has accounted for 20 wins or more.