AFTON, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College volleyball team won a thrilling first set against 12th-ranked Wingate University, but the Pioneers fell to the Bulldogs 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in both team's regular season finale. Laryssa Welch, Sabrina Schleuger, and Rachel Garnett each registered 10 kills for TC.

Tusculum finishes the season with a 16-14 overall record and a 15-7 mark in the South Atlantic Conference. The Pioneers will be the four seed in next weekend's SAC Championship in Hickory, North Carolina. TC will take on the host-school, fifth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne, in Friday's second quarterfinal at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday's match was played at Chuckey-Doak High School because the college is hosting the Remote Area Medical clinic this weekend on the Greenville campus. TC won the first set 29-27 before dropping the second set 25-16 and the third set 26-17. Wingate (28-2, 21-1) closed out the match with a 26-24 fourth-set victory.

Schleuger, a freshman outside hitter, tallied a double-double with 10 digs to go with her 10 kills. Sophomore libero Moriah Jones had a match-high 18 digs. Junior setter Hannah Berling dished out a team-high 20 assists while freshman setter Shannon Murphy registered 19. Senior outside hitter Megan Hasse added seven kills, four digs and four blocks in her final regular-season contest as a Pioneer.

In the first set, Tusculum jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, but a 9-1 run by the Bulldogs gave them a 12-7 advantage and forced a Pioneer timeout. However, TC responded with an 8-1 run that earned the lead back with the score at 16-15.

A pair of 2-0 spurts by Wingate helped earn a 20-18 lead, but once again the resilient Pioneers re-took the lead with a 4-0 run off the service off Hasse that gave them a 22-20 advantage. But the game of runs continued as the Bulldogs took four of the next five points and earned set-point with the score at 24-23.

TC fought off the set-point with a huge kill by Garnett, but a kill by WU's Lexi Porter put the score at 25-24, and Wingate was one point away once again from taking the set. In the next rally, Schleuger connected on a kill and then a Bulldog attack error gave TC its first set point of the match with the score at 26-25.

Wingate was able to re-tie the match in the next rally off a kill by Abby Saehler and re-took the lead and set-point off a service ace by Alison Cooke. With the score at 27-26 in favor of WU, the Pioneers benefitted from an attack error by Shelly Stumpff that knotted the score at 27.

In the next rally, Saehler committed an attack error that gave TC set-point, and this time Tusculum was able to close out the set with an attack error by Susie Murach that gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead in the match.

After Wingate took a 2-1 lead with back-to-back set victories, Tusculum erased a 7-6 deficit in the fourth set with a 4-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. After Wingate took the next two points, the two sides traded points in the next 14 rallies. With TC clinging to a 17-16 lead, Wingate took eight of the next nine points and took a 22-18 advantage.

TC responded with a 6-2 run that knotted the set at 24 as TC tried to force a decisive fifth set. However, Wingate's Katie Bludau connected on a kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-24 lead and match point in the next rally. WU won the match after Garnett committed an attack error and held off the upset-minded Pioneers.

Murach, Potter, Stumpff, and Bludau each tallied double-figure kills for Wingate lead by Bludau's 18, which was a match-high. Alison Cooke dished-out a match-high 50 assists, while Kori Adams led the Bulldog's defensive efforts with 17 digs.