The Newberry Wolves took the opening set of their final match at the Eckerd College Classic, but the Rollins Tars claimed close victories in the ensuing three sets to take a 21-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-21 win in the MacArthur Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, Newberry will enter South Atlantic Conference play next weekend with a 5-4 overall record.

Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) had a double-double with 31 assists and 11 digs, while Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.) had a 17-kill, 22-dig double-double. Amanda Soper (Simi Valley, Calif.) had 14 kills and Madison Schultz (Bellmont, Ind.) had nine kills.

Rollins had decent leads in the first set, getting ahead by as many as five points at 19-14, but a 6-1 run tied the set at 20-all. Newberry put away five of the final six points to earn a 25-21 victory and go up 1-0. The Wolves hit .222 in the opening set with Parrish notching six kills and five digs in the set.

It was another tight set in the second set, with Newberry jumping out and Rollins responding. The Wolves led 15-12 before the Tars rattled off five straight points. Late in the set, Newberry narrowed its deficit to two points, but Rollins scored the final three points to take a 25-19 set win and tie the match at a set apiece. Parrish had another six kill set, with six digs and two aces. Soper had three kills in the set.

In the pivotal third set, the Tars jumped out to a 10-5 lead but the Wolves stuck around. Rollins was two points away from the set win at 23-20 before a kill by Soper and consecutive kills from Schultz tied the set at 23-all. Unfortunately, Newberry was unable to grab the lead as Rollins jumped out to the 2-1 lead with the 26-24 set victory. Neither team had particularly good hitting marks, as each defense dug out 36 balls. Rollins had six blocks in the set to Newberry’s two. Parrish, Schultz and Soper each had four kills in the set.

Newberry’s hitting fell off in the back end of the fourth set. After the set was tied at 18-all, Newberry was only able to record one kill in the final 10 points, with the Tars taking a 25-21 set win. Rollins hit .146 in the set to Nebwerry’s .070. Soper led Newberry with three kills in the set.

Newberry vs. Minnesota State-Moorehead

The Newberry Wolves challenged a red-hot Minnesota State-Moorhead squad, but the Dragons earned a 25-19, 30-28, 25-21 sweep in Newberry’s third match on Saturday morning.

Newberry falls to 5-3 overall with the loss and will close EC Classic action at 3 p.m. against Rollins. MSU-M is now 8-1 on the season.

Parrish had a team-high 11 kills in the match, while Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was just short of a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs. Elayni Stokes (Houston, Texas) had a team-high 12 digs. Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) passed out 14 assists while Rachel Moran (Cypress, Texas) had 12 helpers.

In the opening set, Newberry fought back form an early disadvantage. The Dragons scored the first five points of the match, but Newberry rallied to tie the set at 7-all. MSU-M pushed back out to a 15-10 advantage and the Wolves surged again to take an 18-17 lead. Unfortunately, Moorhead scored eight of the final nine points in the set to take a 1-0 lead. Prachar had four kills in the set with no errors, but Newberry had eight errors as a team, hitting .000. MSU-M hit .206 in the set and was led by five kills from Annie Palmquist.

A thrilling second set saw Newberry hold set point three times, but the Dragons closed out the set with three straight points. Newberry trailed by four as late as 20-16 and tied the set on MSU-M’s first set point. Newberry took the lead in the extra points three times, but a ball handling error and consecutive kills from Kaitlin VanWinkle handed the Dragons the 2-0 lead in the match. Browning had three aces in the set and Parrish had five kills as the Wolves hit .216 in the set, but MSU-M hit .283 and had three players with four or more kills in the set.

The third set was tightly played as well before a mid-set run by the Dragons gave them the match win. Newberry trailed only 15-13 before the Minnesotans went on a 6-1 surge with three blocks mixed in. The Wolves clawed their way back to within three points and fought off two match points, but a Maggie Gruber kill put the match away for the Dragons. Parrish had four kills, seven digs and an ace in the set without an error, but the Dragons had seven blocks in the set to clinch the victory.

Newberry vs. Eckerd College

The Newberry Wolves hung tight with 22nd-ranked Eckerd College in Friday’s nightcap of the EC Classic, but the host Tritons pulled out a 28-26, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of the Wolves.

Newberry (4-2) returns to action at 10 a.m. Saturday against a surging 7-1 Minnesota State-Moorhead squad and closes the Eckerd Classic with a 3 p.m. match against Rollins.

Middle blocker Schultz returned to the lineup and hit .556, connecting on five kills with no errors on nine attempts. Parrish led the Wolves with 13 kills and had nine digs to fall just short of a double-double.

Browning handed out 17 assists and Moran dished out 10, while Stokes had a team-high 13 digs.

Prachar and Soper each had six kills, while Jessica King (Los Angeles, Calif.) joined Schultz in the middle with five kills.

The Wolves put a scare in the nationally-ranked Tritons in the first set, clawing back after the hosts had taken a 20-16 lead with four consecutive points to tie the set at 20-all. Neither team could pull away to the required two-point advantage to end the set until EC’s Lindsay Biggs earned a kill and an ace to close it out at 28-26. Parrish had five kills in the set as the Wolves out-hit Eckerd .237 to .119, but the Tritons had three aces in the set to Newberry’s one, including the set-clinching point.

In the second set, Eckerd found its offensive groove, hitting .405 in the set with Ali McAlvany earning nine kills on 14 swings without an error. Newberry hit .206 with three aces, with Parrish smashing four kills and Prachar putting away three points, but McAlvany’s offensive assault allowed the Tritons to come back from as many as six points down early in the set.

A 7-0 run late in the third and final set allowed Eckerd to close out the match in sweeping fashion. Newberry was within a 16-14 margin before the error bug bit the Wolves to help the Tritons out. Newberry hit only .086 in the set compared to Eckerd’s .353. McAlvany had another flawless set with five kills on nine swings without an error, while Ana de Olano put down six kills. Parrish had four kills in the set and King, Prachar and Soper had a pair each.

Newberry vs. Northwood

The Newberry Wolves volleyball team started off well, but Northwood (Mich.) won three straight sets as the Timberwolves took a 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-13) win on Friday afternoon.

With the loss, Newberry sees its season-opening winning streak halted at five matches. The Scarlet and Gray’s record stands at 5-1 entering a 7:30 p.m. matchup with No. 22 Eckerd.

Chelsea Mayor (Sugar Land, Texas) led the Wolves with a .545 hitting percentage, notching seven kills and only one error on 11 attempts.Parrish earned team highs with nine kills and nine digs, while Moran and Stokes also had nine digs.

Mayor and Prachar each had seven kills, while King had six kills. Browning dished out 15 assists and Moran handed out 12 assists.

Newberry won the first set with a great comeback effort. After taking a 16-12 lead, Newberry saw Northwood rattle off eight consecutive points to take a 20-16 lead. The Wolves scored nine of the last 12 points in the set thanks to Northwood errors to take the lead. Mayor had four kills on five attempts in the set, with King and Prachar each tallying three kills as the Wolves hit .257 in the set.

The hitting went downhill in the second set, as Newberry hit .038 with six errors and Northwood hit .407 with 14 kills and only three errors in the set to tie the match up. Newberry rebounded by hitting. 304 in the third set to Northwood’s .267, with Parrish notching four kills. However, Newberry had a season-low five digs in the set and the Timberwolves had four aces to make the difference in the 25-21 set.

Two huge runs in the fourth set by Northwood combined with Newberry’s .000 hitting percentage brought the match to an end. The Timberwolves hit .400 in the set.

For the match, Northwood outhit Newberry .267 to .153 with 11 aces to Newberry’s three.