GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Lady Railsplitters (9-9, 6-6 SAC) renew one of the longest running rivalries in program history on Tuesday night when they head to Greeneville, Tenn. for a South Atlantic Conference volleyball bout against the Tusculum Pioneers (8-10, 5-7 SAC), set for a 7 p.m. first serve in Pioneer Arena.
 
Lincoln Memorial went 1-1 over the weekend, winning a four-set match at Brevard on Friday before dropping a five-set match to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday evening. The Lady Railsplitters hit .201 with 56 kills and 19 errors against the Tornados, but couldn't sustain that success against the Bears, hitting .127 with 51 kills and 29 attack errors.
 
LMU was solid offensively in sets two and three on Saturday, hitting .221 and .175, and subsequently built a two sets to one advantage against Lenoir-Rhyne. However, sets four and five went heavily in favor of the Bears, who hit .323 and .368 in those sets respectively and limited the Lady Railsplitters to 14 kills and 12 errors over that same span to complete the comeback. That was the Lady Railsplitters' sixth straight loss to Lenoir-Rhyne since the 2013 season, and it was the third five-setter during that skid.
 
The Lady Railsplitters have won four of their last five South Atlantic Conference contests to put themselves squarely in the thick of the league standings in sixth place. They trail fifth-place Anderson by just a half game and sit a game and a half behind fourth-place Catawba, who is coming to Mary Mars Gym on Saturday afternoon.
 
Senior outside hitter Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.) is all but assured of breaking Lincoln Memorial's career record for digs, as she enters Tuesday's match just seven digs away from matching Amanda Horenkamp for the program record. Mense - the single-season record holder for digs - has racked up 1,723 career scoops during her tenure with the Lady Railsplitters.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are 2-6 in true road matches this season, but that might be more indicative of the quality of opponents they've played outside of Mary Mars Gym than any quantifiable issue. LMU has played two of the SAC's top three teams in Lenoir-Rhyne and Carson-Newman on the road as well as two of the Peach Belt Conference's elite in Lander and USC Aiken. One of the Lady Railsplitters' two road wins came against then No. 25 nationally-ranked Armstrong State, who currently leads the PBC.
 
Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.), who leads the Lady Railsplitters with 2.66 kills per set, has accumulated 13 kills in back-to-back matches. Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) will be looking for her 16th double-double of the season, as she had 47 assists and a career-high 26 digs against Brevard and posted 42 assists with 10 digs at Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
First serve is set for 7 p.m. in Greeneville, Tenn. Live stats and video links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
 
Know the Opponent
 
Tusculum - 7 p.m. Live Stats | Video
 
After winning five of their first eight matches this season, the Pioneers have dropped seven of their last 10 to fall into seventh place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with a 5-7 league record. Tusculum halted a three-match losing streak and picked up their second win in October on Saturday with a 3-0 sweep over Coker. In that match, the Pioneers hit above .200 for the first time since September 22, ending a nine-game drought in that department.
 
The Pioneers have a middle-of-the-road offensive attack that ranks fifth in the SAC in attack percentage (.183) and kills per set (12.22), and has committed the second-fewest attack errors with just 336. However, opposing offenses are having a field day against Tusculum's mostly unproductive block, which ranks last in the SAC in solo blocks and second-to-last in total blocks and blocks per set. The Pioneers are allowing 13.57 kills per set and a .208 attack percentage, which would rank second and third in the SAC respectively.
 
Tusculum is 3-3 in home matches this season with noticeable differences in their home and away splits. On the road, the Pioneers are putting up just 11.26 kills per set with a .162 attack percentage. At home, those numbers jump to 13.50 kills per set with a .200 attack percentage.
 
The Pioneers are paced by junior right side Rachel Garnett and sophomore outside hitter Sabrina Schleuger. Garnett - a 2014 All-SAC honorable mention selection - is averaging 2.85 kills per set with a .252 attack percentage. She has had double-digit kills in three of her last five appearances. Schleuger is putting up 2.41 kills and 2.41 digs per set with a .155 attack percentage. Middle blockers Laryssa Welch (1.98 k/set) and Danae Stauffer (1.91 k/set) are also contributing right around two kills per frame. Stauffer is doing so with a .243 attack percentage, 0.96 digs per set and a team-leading 28 blocks. Senior setter Hannah Berling is compiling 9.75 assists and 2.78 digs per set, while freshman libero Melissa Mazur leads the South Atlantic Conference with 482 digs and 7.09 per set.
 
The Tusculum rivalry is one of the oldest in the history of the LMU volleyball program, as Tuesday will be the 60th meeting all-time between the Lady Railsplitters and Pioneers since 1989. Lincoln Memorial has won six of the last 10, but Tusculum holds a narrow 31-28 edge. The two teams split the regular-season series in 2014, with Tusculum capturing a 3-2 win in Harrogate and the Lady Railsplitters returning the favor with a three-set triumph in Greeneville. In that win in Greeneville, which was the Lady Railsplitters' second straight on Tusculum's home court, Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) led the way with 10 kills, while Fleeman had nine kills.