ROCK HILL, SC – Winthrop swept the Runnin' Bulldogs in three sets Thursday afternoon, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-13.
 
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
Morgan Bossler (12 kills, 7.0 blocks, 20 attack)
Emily Wunder (23 attack, 6 kills)
Jana Owens (13 assists, 8 digs)
Leah Metzger (14 digs)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Eagle got off to a hot start in Set 1, taking a 8-2 lead early. Out of the Gardner-Webb timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs got a point off a Mikah McIntosh kill but the Eagles never let up. Winthrop pulled ahead 15-8 off a three-point run. The Runnin' Bulldogs got within three due to two attack errors but the Eagles would pull out the 25-17 Set 1 win.
 
The second set was a much closer match. Gardner-Webb used Set 1 as motivation, taking a 10-4 lead early on. An 8--3 run out of a Winthrop-timeout evened the score at 12 apiece. The Runnin' Bulldogs struggled to hang on to the lead, letting Winthrop tie things once again at 17 all. After a blocking error on the Eagles, they tied things up at 20 and would take Set 2, 25-23, off a Morgan Bossler kill.
 
The Eagles absolutely dominated the third and final set, with four streaks of three or more consecutive points.   A 5-1 run gave the Eagles the three-set sweet, taking Set 3, 25-13.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will host the Runnin' Bulldogs for Round 2 on Friday, Mar. 5. The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.