GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Lady Railsplitters (11-9, 7-5 SAC) enacted a bit of revenge Tuesday night, opening the second round of South Atlantic Conference play by rolling the Tusculum Pioneers (10-10, 9-3 SAC) in straight sets in Greeneville, Tenn. Lincoln Memorial finished off the victory with set scores of 25-20, 27-25 and 25-17.

The win ensured that the Lady Railsplitters and Pioneers would split the regular-season series for the third consecutive year after Tusculum won the first match-up in five sets in Harrogate back on September 23. Neither LMU or Tusculum has defeated the other in straight sets since the Pioneers logged a 3-0 victory over the Lady Railsplitters during the 2007 campaign. Lincoln Memorial has not defeated Tusculum in 3-0 fashion since October 19, 2005.  

The Lady Railsplitters were limited to only 35 kills with a .171 attack percentage, but the home standing Pioneers registered a lowly .098 attacking clip with 35 kills and 21 miscues. Lincoln Memorial also earned 16 total points in service as the Pioneers tallied 11 service blunders while the Lady Railsplitters accounted for five aces.

Freshman Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) collected a team-leading 10 kills to go alongside nine digs and three service aces. Sophomore Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) notched nine kills with a .182 attack percentage, while graduate student MaRanda Boddie (Springfield, Ohio) hit .462 in the match with seven terminations. Senior Allison Beavers (Tomball, Texas) contributed five kills and a block assists. Sophomore setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) racked up 28 assists and 11 digs to compile another double-double. Juniors Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.) and Kendra Gephart (Morrow, Ohio) led the Lady Railsplitters defensively with 21 and 17 scoops, respectively.

The Lady Railsplitters trailed 4-1 early in the opening set before a pair of Fleeman kills and two Tusculum attack errors propelled them into a 5-4 advantage. After jockeying back and forth, kills by Fleeman and Boddie extended the LMU lead to 12-8. The Lady Railsplitters never trailed for the remainder of the frame, pushing out in front 20-16 on another Boddie-Fleeman kill combo. The Pioneers cut it to 20-18, but the Lady Railsplitters closed on a 5-2 run, capped by a Holland kill, to win 25-20.

LMU built an early 10-6 edge in set two and continued to hold sway until the Pioneers used kills by Megan Hasse and Sabrina Schleuger, along with an LMU attack error, to knot the frame at 17-17. The two teams traded blows back and forth throughout the ensuing passage of play until Tusculum found itself with a 24-23 lead following a pair of LMU hitting blunders. The Lady Railsplitters warded off set point thanks to a service error and a Tusculum attack error made it 25-24 in the visitor unit's favor. The Pioneers briefly tied in back up before Holland recorded a kill and a service ace to finish off the 27-25 triumph.

The Lady Railsplitters never trailed in the clincher, building a 10-4 cushion after back-to-back Pioneer attack errors and a kill by Cash. Tusculum cut the deficit to as little as 12-10, but the Lady Railsplitters ripped off a 10-4 run to extend the lead to 22-14. Boddie concluded the 25-17 victory with a kill.

After allowing Megan Hasse to record a season-high 22 kills in the initial meeting, the Lady Railsplitters limited the conference's second-leading hitter to 12 kills on .220 attack percentage. Sabrina Schleuger and Rachel Garnett contributed eight kills apiece, while Schleuger and Moriah Jones led the Pioneers with 14 digs apiece. Shannon Murphy pitched in 16 assists and 13 scoops for Tusculum.

Prior to Tuesday night, the Pioneers had won nine of their last 10 games.

The Lady Railsplitters return to action Friday, October 17, hosting the Catawba Indians in South Atlantic Conference action at 7 p.m. in Mary Mars Gymnasium.