MARS HILL, N.C. -- The Lady Railsplitters (14-13, 11-10 SAC) close out the regular season and look to build some momentum heading into postseason play on Friday night when they duke it out with the Mars Hill Lions (7-20, 5-15 SAC) in a South Atlantic Conference volleyball contest at 7 p.m. in Mars Hill, N.C.
 
There's a wide range of adjectives that could fittingly describe Lincoln Memorial's season, but maybe none more acutely than resilient. The Lady Railsplitters showed their resolve on Tuesday with a captivating, come-from behind five-set triumph over Tusculum in the Mary Mars Gymnasium finale.
 
Coming into that match aiming to make amends for a disappointing 3-0 loss at Newberry, the Lady Railsplitters played like gangbusters in the opening set, throttling the visiting Pioneers 25-13. But Tusculum battled back to take the next two sets 25-22 and 25-15 to grab a two sets to one edge. With their backs against the wall against a team fighting for their postseason lives, Lincoln Memorial responded, grinding out a 25-21 win to force a fifth set and then holding the Pioneers to a -.150 attack percentage in the fifth frame to clinch the match 15-7.
 
Four different players tallied double-digit kills for the Lady Railsplitters, which is a tribute to the assured leadership of setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio). Cash matched a season-high mark with 54 assists and did an outstanding job, as she has all season, of mixing up sets to put her hitters in the best possible position to succeed. In her third season with the program, Cash has quietly put together a tremendous resume, as she leads the league with 824 assists in SAC matches. Additionally, she ranks fourth in the league in assists per set (9.93) and 16th in digs per set (3.26). Cash enters Friday's regular season finale 18 assists away from becoming the 11th player in program history to record 1,000 assists in a season.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) recorded 17 kills and hit .433 in the win over Tusculum, marking her sixth double-digit kill outing in the Lady Railsplitters' last eight matches. Jazzy Oates (Franklin, Tenn.) had 13 kills and eight total blocks while freshman Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) notched 12 kills on a .375 attack percentage. Ged now ranks fourth in the league with a .304 attack percentage in SAC matches. Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) chipped in 11 kills for her 12th double-digit kill performance of the season.
 
While Lincoln Memorial prepares for next week's South Atlantic Conference tournament, Mars Hill is nearing the end of a disappointing 2015 campaign, as the Lions enter Friday's match with a 7-20 overall record and a 5-15 SAC mark. The Lions are completely out of the playoff picture and alone in 11th place in the league standings.
 
Most recently, Mars Hill suffered a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-14) defeat at the hands of Newberry. In that contest, the Lions produced just 22 kills on a .075 attack percentage while the Wolves hit .378 with 47 kills.
 
The Lions are ranked 11th in the league in kills, kills per set, hitting percentage and assists per set while trailing only Queens for the league-lead in total attack errors with 603. To make matters worse, Mars Hill is allowing opponent to hit .207 and produce 12.91 kills per set, as they rank last in the SAC in blocking with 1.12 blocks per set.
 
Sophomores Rebecca Butler (2.67 kills/set, 3.70 digs/set) and Lauren Hochstetler (2.62 k/set, 2.91 d/set) and junior Mary Kate Griffin (2.33 k/set, 1.83 d/set) lead the Mars Hill attack. Andie Russell is responsible for 6.86 assists and 1.85 digs per set while Victoria Kaiser is putting up a team-high 4.96 digs per set.
 
The Lady Railsplitters improved to 21-8 all-time against Mars Hill and defeated the Lions for the third straight time with a dominant straight-set victory (25-9, 25-12, 25-13) on October 6 at Mary Mars Gym. Mars Hill hit -.097 and posted just 16 kills in that match, which marked the fifth-fewest kills by an LMU opponent since 2005 and the first time Lincoln Memorial held an opponent to a negative attack percentage since 2011.
 
Brock and Holland led the Lady Railsplitters with seven kills apiece while Fleeman notched six kills. Cash had 22 assists, four aces, 14 digs and three block assists. No Mars Hill player finished with more than four kills or a positive attack percentage in the match. Hochstetler and Griffin led the Lions with four kills apiece.
 
First serve is set for 7 p.m. in Mars Hill, N.C. Live stats will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.