The Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball Team celebrated Senior Night and recorded a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Emory & Henry to close out the regular season, winning 3-2. On a day where they were announced as the No. 8 team in the regional rankings, LR avoided a damaging upset and secured win number 20 of the season.

LR celebrated seven seniors before the start of the match and scored the first four points of the opening set. They used the early momentum to post a 25-19 win in the opener.
In the second set, a 3-0 LR run cut the lead to 16-15 but the Wasps would score five unanswered and took a 25-18 win. The Bears struggled in the third set and fell behind 2-1 with a 25-23 defeat. Despite scoring the first six points in the frame and holding a 10-3 advantage, E & H stormed back to steal the set.

With LR up 17-10 in the third, the Wasps went on a 7-1 run thanks to four straight service aces. A back-and-forth fourth set went LR’s way after E & H led 20-19. Back-to-back kills by Kathy Peter and Taylor Osborne pushed it to a fifth set by the count of 25-23.

Kathy Peter had three of the first four kills to open the fifth set and Emmaleigh Allen had four kills in the set as LR sealed the win 15-12. Allen finished with 20 kills and added 15 digs while Peter had 14 kills and a team-high .333 hitting percentage. Aasia McNeill had 12 kills and 18 digs and Averie Dale had a career-best 54 assists and 21 digs. Lyndsie Warren totaled 17 digs.

The Bears hit the 20 win mark for the second time in three years. The Bears are locked into the number four seed in the conference tournament and will host on Monday night. Both matches between LR and E & H went five sets this year with the Bears winning both. This was the second five-setter at home this year for LR. The Bears are a perfect 5-0 in five set matches this year and are 7-0 in two years under Nicole Barringer.

The Bears improve to 20-9 overall, 14-4 in the South Atlantic Conference. LR will move to postseason play when the Eagles of Carson-Newman come to Hickory for the SAC Quarterfinal on Monday at 7 p.m.