ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Taylor Prall recorded 20 kills and 14 digs to lead fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne to a 3-1 upset win over top-seeded Tusculum Friday afternoon in a semifinal match of the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Championship.
Lenoir-Rhyne (21-7) advances to Saturday's championship game against the winner of other semifinal between Wingate and Anderson at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center. Tusculum (20-5), the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region, will await word of the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field, which will be made this Monday night at www.NCAA.com beginnign at 7:30 pm (ET).
The Bears won the match by scores of 25-21, 25-18, 23-25 and 25-19 to move onto the SAC Championship match for a fourth time in school history and will be looking for their second title with the first coming in their last trip to the finals in 2015.
Lenoir-Rhyne recorded 12 blocks in the match as Braelyn Faust had six blocks while Emma Clark had two solos and three assisted blocks at the net.
Tusculum's Raeley Matthews led her team with 15 kills and 17 digs, while Carli Pigza finished with a dozen kills and two blocks. Raven Chance added 11 kills and hit .429, while setter Elise Carmichael accounted for a double-double with 31 assists and 13 digs.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 5-2 lead but the Bears responded with seven straight points including three kills from Prall as L-R led 9-5. The Bears extended their lead to 17-12 following a service ace by Rachel Bewick. The Pioneers would battle back with a 7-2 spurt to tie the set at 19-19. The two teams exchanged points for the fourth tie of the frame at 20-20. But L-R would close out the frame with a 5-1 run including the final three points to win the opening set 25-21.
The second set saw the lead change hands on four occasions early before the Bears went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-6 thanks to consecutive kills from Prall. Lenoir-Rhyne moved its advantage out to as many as 16-11 before the Pioneers responded with a 5-1 run including back-to-back kills by Pigza and a kill by SAC Player of the Year Emiah Burrowes as TU trailed 17-16. But the Bears would use an 8-2 run to end the set to win 25-18 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
L-R jumped out to an 11-8 advantage in the third before Tusculum mounted a big push with a 6-1 run to take a 14-12 lead. TU would lead by as many as 19-15 before the Bears went on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 20-20. The score would be tied at 21-21, but TU followed score three straight including kills from Burrowes and Bailey Parker as the Pioneers led 24-21. L-R fought off two set points but TU's Emma Johnson finished off the set with her kill and a 25-23 decision as the Pioneers trimmed the match deficit to 2-1.
L-R used an early 4-0 run in the fourth set to take an 8-5 lead. TU would trim the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 9-8 after a Matthews' kill, but the Bears answered with three straight to move out to a 12-8 advantage. Tusculum posted three in a row to make it a one-point game again at 12-11. Lenoir-Rhyne would score three straight to make it 16-12 and force a TU timeout. The Pioneers score two in a row to cut the deficit to 16-14, but that would be as close as the Pioneers would get. Lenoir-Rhyne would follow with runs of 4-1 and 5-2 to close out the match and win the final frame 25-19.
The Bears hit .282 on the day with 61 kills on 163 attacks with 15 errors. Tusculum posted a .219 hitting percentage with 60 kills, 21 errors and 178 attempts.
L-R setter finished with 43 assists and 18 digs, while Rachel Bewick finished with 23 digs in the victory.
Tusculum's Carly Sosnowski finished with a match-high 31 digs to go along with six assists. Setter Catherine Clingan also dished out 21 helpers, while also making nine digs.
