Lenoir-Rhyne dropped its first South Atlantic Conference match in over a month as they were defeated at Catawba on Saturday afternoon, 3-1. The Bears previous SAC defeat came at Wingate on Sept. 26. Catawba’s Kelcie Love exploded for a match-high 20 kills for the hosts.

Catawba came right out and protected its home court with a 25-19 victory in the first set. LR would rally to even the contest with a 25-23 win in set two but Catawba closed it out with wins of 25-22 and 25-19 to earn the upset victory.

Kathy Peter was LR’s stand out in the losing effort, registering 16 kills and a .394 hitting percentage to go with four total blocks and six digs. Cheyenne Clonch was also strong for LR, finishing with 10 kills, no errors and a .500 hitting percentage to go with a pair of blocks. Aasia McNeill had 10 kills and 15 digs for the double-double and Lyndsie Warren led LR with 18 digs. Sydney Karjala had 44 assists in the match and tallied seven digs.

Catawba had four players in double digits in kills. Behind Love’s 20, Chloe Danielson recorded 13 kills and a .476 hitting percentage.

The .242 hitting percentage by Catawba was the third-best total from any opponent this season.

This ends LR’s 12-game winning streak over the Indians. LR falls one game back of Wingate and in a second-place tie with Anderson.

Two of three LR’s worst serving efforts came against Catawba. The 12 errors in this match is the third-most this year and the 15 in the prior matchup was the second most.

The Bears are 19-7 overall, 13-2 in the South Atlantic Conference. LR will have little time to regroup as they travel to Anderson with second place on the line on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.