ANDERSON, S.C. -- The Trojans finished out the regular season with a battle against the South Atlantic Conference leaders and nationally ranked No. 17 Wingate University, falling 3-0 by scores of 27-25, 25-19 and 25-13. The Trojans finish the season ranked second as they head into the SAC Championships next week.

"We had a really tough time with their serving and getting into any type of rhythm," head coach Todd Hay said. "It was a good wake up call for what post season play requires if you want to win. I know our players are disappointed in the loss and will work to fix what went wrong. We are still a good team with a lot to play for and accomplish." 

The Trojans struggled on both sides of the ball, as the offense put up a .144 clip while the defense had 34 digs. Wingate was able to get 11 aces on the Trojans and 42 kills. 

Junior Ava Reeves (Lexington, S.C.) led the offense with nine kills. 

Sophomore Mia Elder (Leland, N.C.) put up eight kills with just one error and had four digs.

Freshman Mikaylah Hedlund (Fountain Inn, S.C.) and sophomore Maura Kindel (Easley, S.C.) added five kills each. 

Junior Ellie Nieporte (Boca Raton, Fla.) dished out 27 assists with one ace. 

The Bulldogs opened on an 8-2 run to force a Trojan timeout. The Trojans answered with a 6-2 run and got the Bulldog defense out of system. Two aces from Wingate stole Anderson's momentum and they were first to 20 at 20-15. The Trojans weren't going down without a fight, coming up with another ten points before the Bulldogs got the 27-25 win. Reeves had six kills in the first set.

The second set was a battle with seven tie scores and five leads changes, but the Trojan offense was only able to produce ten kills. It wasn't enough to build the momentum they needed to build a solid lead, and the Bulldogs took it 25-19. 

The Bulldogs went off on a 7-1 run to open the third set. The Trojans were unable to ever fully recover, falling 25-13 in the third.

The Trojans turn their attention to the SAC Championships which they enter as the No. 2 seed. They will host No. 7 Mars Hill on Tuesday, Nov. 18th at 7 p.m. in the SAC Quarterfinals.