GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Lady Railsplitters (9-10, 6-7 SAC) had no answer for a potent Tusculum Pioneers (9-10, 6-7 SAC) offensive attack in a straight-set loss on Tuesday night in Greeneville, Tenn. Lincoln Memorial lost its first of two regular-season meetings against Tusculum by set scores of 15-25, 18-25 and 18-25.
 
The Lady Railsplitters posted 31 kills, 13 attack errors and a .188 attack percentage, while the Pioneers amassed 50 kills, 15 errors and a super-efficient .340 attack percentage in the three-set match. That was the highest attack percentage by an LMU opponent this season, surpassing the .319 effort put forth by USC Aiken on October 10.
 
Lincoln Memorial overcame a poor first-set performance, when they hit .030 with eight kills and seven errors, by hitting .360 and .211 in the second and third sets, but it wasn't enough to get past a Tusculum team that produced 15, 17 and 18 kills in each respective set. The Pioneers hit .405 in the clincher with only three attack errors. 
 
Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio), Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) and Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) led the Lady Railsplitters with six kills apiece, while Jazzy Oates (Franklin, Tenn.) added four kills. Brock paced that group with a .375 attack percentage and no errors. Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) finished with 20 assists and six digs, while Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) led Lincoln Memorial with nine digs. Peyton McDaniel (Morristown, Tenn.) contributed seven digs.
 
Casey Mense (Littleton, Colo.), who entered Tuesday's match needing just seven digs to tie LMU's career record, will have to wait at least one more match to reach that mark, as she finished with just two digs. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters won two of the first three rallies in set one, but two kills from Sarah Bouley and another from Laryssa Welch capped an 8-1 Tusculum run that gave the Pioneers a 9-3 lead and control of the set. A kill by Fleeman paired with a Pioneer attack error trimmed the Lady Railsplitters' deficit to 9-5, but Tusculum subsequently won nine of the next 11 rallies to extend their lead to 18-7. That stretch began with four Tusculum kills and ended with two Lincoln Memorial miscues. The Lady Railsplitters chipped away gradually over the ensuing passage of play, but couldn't close the gap to less than 10 points until a Sabrina Schleuger attack error made it 24-15. That was too little, too late though, as Schleuger bounced back with a kill in the next possession to end the set.
 
A late push made things interesting in set two, but the Lady Railsplitters were once again unable to overcome a massive early deficit. The Pioneers won four of the first five points and later increased their lead to 11-3 with back-to-back service aces by Cassie Born. Two Tusculum attack errors and a kill by Holland pulled Lincoln Memorial within six points at 12-6, but Schleuger recorded three kills to pace a 7-1 run for the Pioneers that ballooned their lead to 19-7. Aided by four attack errors and four kills by four different players, the Lady Railsplitters eventually fought back to cut Tusculum's lead to 21-15. The lead dwindled to as little as 23-18 on a kill by Allison McKinnon (Missouri City, Texas), but a Schleuger kill and an LMU ball-handling error ended the set in the Pioneers favor, 25-18.
 
A kill by Brock gave the Lady Railsplitters a 4-3 lead early in the third set, but Welch connected on three kills to pace a 5-1 Pioneer run that put Lincoln Memorial behind 8-5. After a quick timeout, the Lady Railsplitters made it 9-7 with kills from Holland and Brock before a 3-0 flurry increased the Pioneers' lead back to 12-7. LMU then churned out a 4-0 run to close the distance and remained close over the next few points, pulling to within two points at 16-14 on another kill from Brock. From there, the Pioneers threw down six unanswered kills (two apiece by Bouley, Welch and Schleuger) to take a commanding 22-14 lead. Back-to-back aces by Mense made it 22-17 late, but a final kill from Bouley clinched Tusculum's straight-set victory.
 
Tusculum's Welch and Schleuger tied for the match-high mark with 12 kills apiece, while Bouley finished just behind that duo with 11 kills. Rachel Garnett chipped in offensively with nine kills. Hannah Berling racked up 45 assists, while Melissa Mazur led all players with 16 digs.
 
Next up, the Lady Railsplitters return to Mary Mars Gym on Friday and Saturday for their final weekend series of the season. Lincoln Memorial hosts Queens at 7 p.m. on Friday before welcoming at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Match Notes
Before Tuesday's match, the Lady Railsplitters had not been swept by Tusculum since October 3, 2007 (18 straight matches). The time before that? August 24, 1996....The Pioneers' .340 attack percentage is the highest by an LMU opponent since the quarterfinals of the 2014 SAC Championship, when Anderson hit .411 in a three-setter....Tuesday was the 60th all-time meeting between LMU and Tusculum - the Pioneers are now leading the series 32-28