ROME, Ga.-All three sets were decided by razor-thin margins, but first-place Shorter swept the Christian Brothers University Lady Bucs Saturday afternoon in the final regular season contest for both squads.

In the first set, CBU (16-14, 12-8 GSC) led most of the way and served for set point at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25, but the Lady Hawks (21-4, 18-2) scored the final three points to win 28-26. In the second set it was Shorter who led most of the way before the Lady Bucs rallied from an 18-12 hole to tie the match at 20 and later take a 22-21 lead. But again, Shorter finished strong, scoring four of the final five points to win 25-23. In the third set, neither team led by more than three points in the set, and again CBU was unable to hold a late 21-20 lead and the Lady Hawks scored five of the last six points to win 25-22. In all, the match saw 28 ties and 18 lead changes. In last month's meeting in Canale Arena, Shorter won in four sets and all four sets were decided by the minimum of two points.

Alexis Gillis (Corpus Christi, Texas/Carroll HS) paced the Lady Bucs with 11 kills and 16 digs, and Brinsley Cooper (Rossville, Ind./Rossville HS) racked up nine kills. Demi Chipman (Bartlett, Tenn./Bartlett HS) logged 14 digs, while Maggie Sorensen (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) added 12. Sami Gruse (Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic HS) dished out 27 assists to go with 12 digs.

Anna Graham led Shorter with 14 kills. Cheyenne McLemore had 17 digs, and Dena Pierce dished out 24 assists.

With the win, Shorter clinches first place in the GSC and will host the semifinals and finals of the GSC Tournament next weekend. As the No. 5 seed, the Lady Bucs will visit North Alabama Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The winner advances to face Shorter Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., with the championship match set for Sunday at noon.