Lexington, Ky.----The Wingate University volleyball team moved up one spot in this week’s AVCA Top 25, advancing to number 23. The top-ranked team in the Southeast Region, Wingate is 27-1 overall and riding a 15-match winning streak. The Bulldogs went 3-0 last week, sweeping all three opponents while improving to 24-0 overall against region opponents.

Wingate has won 41 consecutive South Atlantic Conference matches. The Bulldogs have won 71 of their last 73 regular season matches; they are 91-5 overall since the beginning of the 2007 season. Wingate’s .948 winning percentage (during this 96-match span) leads all of Division II. The Bulldogs have won 83 sets in 28 matches, dropping only 10 sets. Of Wingate’s 27 victories, 22 have been won in three sets.

Junior middle blocker Stormi Gale (Richmond, Texas) leads the Bulldogs and the SAC with 3.64 kills per set and a .329 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Lauren Billo (Orland Park, Ill.) is second in the league in both categories, with 3.41 kills per set to go with a .318 hitting percentage. Billo earned SAC Player of the Week honors for her performance last week, earning the recognition for the second time this year.

Wingate sophomore setter Liz Willis (Raleigh, N.C.) leads the conference with 10.31 assists per set. Sophomore libero Maggie Malone (Chicago, Ill.) is third with 4.56 digs per set, while ranking fifth with 0.44 aces per set. As a team, the Bulldogs lead the SAC in kills, hitting percentage, assists, aces and opponents hitting percentage.

The Bulldogs are getting it done in the classroom as well. Wingate earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2008 season. The 2008 Wingate volleyball team members held a 3.352 cumulative GPA.

Eleven team members were named to the SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll last year. Gale, defensive specialist Chelsea Cancelliere (Richboro, Pa.) and middle blocker Rebecca Bloemer (Louisville, Ky.) represented Wingate on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III volleyball first team (college division) in 2008.

The members of the College Sports Information Directors of America selected the Bulldog trio for these honors. Wingate was one of only three schools nationwide with three ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first team members in 2008. The other schools with three first team members were the University of Nebraska (University Division, District VII) and Texas Woman’s University (College Division, District VI).

Wingate has two conference matches this week. The Bulldogs travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. start. A victory Tuesday would clinch at least a share of the 2009 SAC regular season title. The Bulldogs have won three consecutive regular season conference championships. Wingate will host Newberry College Saturday at 5 p.m.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 17 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

(Wingate University assistant sports information director Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)