BREVARD, N.C. -- The Lady Railsplitters (9-8, 6-5 SAC) rode a number of impressive individual performances to a four-set win over the Brevard Tornados (8-10, 5-7 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Friday night in Brevard, N.C. Lincoln Memorial won their fourth straight SAC match by set scores of 25-21, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-19.
 
Outside hitter Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.) turned in the best match of her senior season, piling up 11 kills - one short of her career high - and accumulating a season-best 29 digs. It was the first double-digit kill match for Mense since she posted 11 kills at Catawba during the 2012 campaign. Her defensive effort also put the Littleton, Colo. native 22 digs away from breaking Lincoln Memorial's career digs record, which is currently held by Amanda Horenkamp (1730).
 
Junior setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) racked up a match-leading 47 assists and reset her career high with 26 digs, while also adding three kills, a career-high five block assists, one solo block and an ace. Freshman middle blocker Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) tallied a career-high 10 kills without an error on 25 attempts, good for a .400 attack percentage. Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) led the Lady Railsplitters with 13 kills, while Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.), Jazzy Oates (Franklin, Tenn.) and Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) finished with eight, six and five kills respectively. Additionally, Oates matched her career high with seven block assists. Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) chipped in 19 digs. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters produced 56 kills on a .201 attack percentage, surpassing the .200 threshold for the fifth time in the last nine matches. Brevard was limited to a .124 attack percentage with 29 errors, a number Lincoln Memorial contributed to greatly with 20 block assists and two solo blocks.
 
Neither team led by more than one point in the first set until the Lady Railsplitters turned a 13-12 deficit into a 16-13 advantage with a 4-0 run, keyed by a kill and two block assists from Oates. A service error helped Brevard stop the bleeding, but Lincoln Memorial won four of the next five rallies to extend their lead to 20-15. A kill by Fleeman made it 23-17 in the Lady Railsplitters' favor, but the Tornados used four kills from four different players to close the gap to 24-21. It was too little, too late though, as Cash and Oates combined on a block to clinch the 25-21 win.
 
The second set mirrored the first in that neither team was really able to establish a firm grasp on the lead. The Lady Railsplitters led 5-3 early, but Brevard flipped the script later by assuming a 12-10 edge on a Fatima Gharachorloo kill. Back and forth it went until a 6-3 spurt gave the Tornados a 21-18 lead late in the set. Kills from Ged and Brock along with a Brevard attack error pulled the Lady Railsplitters within one at 22-21, but a kill and a service ace put the Tornados in front 24-21. The Lady Railsplitters fought off three straight set points with a kill by Ged, another from Holland and a Brevard attack miscue to even the score at 24-24. The Tornados would quickly clinch the set on the next two rallies though thanks to an LMU attack error and a kill by Kindle Kirkham.
 
The Lady Railsplitters took the point in five of the first seven rallies in the third set, but a kill by Brevard's Gharachorloo erased that early lead and tied the set at 11-11. Lincoln Memorial re-established the lead at 15-12 following a Tornados attack error, but three straight kills from Kirkham knotted the set once again at 15 apiece. Paced by two kills apiece from Fleeman and Mense, the Lady Railsplitters spun off a 7-2 flurry to build a 22-17 cushion, which they would make hold up with a 25-22 victory clinched on a kill by Holland.
 
Unlike the three sets before, the Lady Railsplitters were able to rein control of what proved to be the decisive fourth frame early on, assuming a 12-8 lead following back-to-back kills by Mense. Brevard used three kills and three LMU miscues to draw the set back even at 14-14, but the Lady Railsplitters came out of the timeout with a 9-3 rally capped by another Mense kill to make it 23-17. The Tornados trimmed the final deficit a bit before committing an attack error and a service blunder to finish off the Lady Railsplitters' 25-19 win.
 
The Lady Railsplitters improved to 21-0 all-time against Brevard and moved to 10-0 at Boshamer Gym.
 
Fatima Gharachorloo led all players with 14 kills to go along with 15 digs. Rachel Ruble chipped in 13 kills, while both Savannah Cox and Kindle Kirkham had nine kills apiece. Erin Barr led the Tornados with 46 assists, while Aleksandra Vrvilo, who set Brevard's NCAA-era career digs mark in the match, led all players with 39 digs.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will look to snap a five-match losing streak to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday when they pay the Bears a visit for a 5 p.m. match in Hickory, N.C. Live stats and video links for that match are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.