HICKORY, N.C. -- The Lady Railsplitters (7-6, 3-2 SAC) were overcome by the hot-hitting Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (9-3, 3-2 SAC) in straight sets at Shuford Gymnasium in Hickory, N.C. Friday evening. Lincoln Memorial fell with set scores of 14-25, 15-25 and 18-25.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne defeated the Lady Railsplitters for the third-consecutive time behind an ultra-efficient and productive offensive attack. The Bears collected 50 kills and only eight errors, six of which came in the third set, for a .356 attack percentage. Lincoln Memorial, meanwhile, produced 29 kills and 13 errors for a .151 mark.  
 
Sophomore Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) paced the Lady Railsplitters with seven kills, while freshman Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) and senior Allison Beavers (Tomball, Texas) chipped in with five kills apiece. Sophomore Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) notched her seventh double-double of the season with 19 assists and 11 digs. Junior Kendra Gephart (Morrow, Ohio) led the Lady Railsplitters with 13 digs to go along with three kills, while junior Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.) contributed 12 scoops.
 
The trio of Ashley Wells, Brooke Redmond and Haley Rhyne combined for 39 of Lenoir-Rhyne's 50 kills as each finished the match with 13 kills. Wells reached that mark with a .423 attack percentage while Rhyne topped that effort with a .550 clip, three service aces and eight digs. Redmond hit .289 with a team-leading 11 digs. Morgan Bunker factored into the match with seven kills and 10 scoops. Briana Gottberg posted 41 assists and seven digs for the Bears.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne assumed a 7-3 advantage following an LMU attack error early in the first frame, and the Bears extended their lead to 12-6 with a Redmond kill just a few rallies later. The Lady Railsplitters closed the gap the 14-9 as Ashley Wells committed an attack error, but L-R managed the point in three of the next four possessions to assume a 17-10 cushion. The Lady Railsplitters won only four more points down the stretch as the Bears closed on a 5-1 run, capped by another Redmond kill, to take a 25-14 victory.
 
Kills by MaRanda Boddie (Springfield, Ohio) and Fleeman provided the Lady Railsplitters with a 7-6 lead in the second set, but the Bears erased it emphatically with a 7-0 run, spurned by three Redmond kills and two Rhyne service aces. Four kills and a service ace composed a 5-0 rebuttal by the Lady Railsplitters to close the deficit to 14-12, however, Lenoir-Rhyne would run off an 11-3 flurry to end the set. Of those final 11 points, six were claimed via a kill.
 
Set three was a near repeat of its predecessor as the Lady Railsplitters boasted a 7-6 lead following a Jazzy Oates (Franklin, Tenn.) service ace. Instead of a 7-0 run, the Bears seized control of the set with a 9-0 rally rode on the serve of Haley Rhyne. The senior outside hitter collected three kills and an ace over that span to lead the Lenoir-Rhyne surge. Lincoln Memorial slowly put a dent in that 15-7 hole, cutting it to 18-13 on an L-R attack error. But the Bears would claim the point in six of the next eight rallies to essentially put the match out of reach. A kill by Gephart made it 24-18 late, but Morgan Bunker finished off the match with a kill in the following rally.
 
Friday marked the second time an opponent has hit better than .350 in a match this season and only the sixth time in the Jenny Michael era (2011).
 
The Lady Railsplitters wrap up their South Atlantic Conference weekend road trip with a visit to Brevard, N.C. for a match-up against the Brevard Tornados Friday at 2 p.m.