HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters nearly led wire-to-wire from start to finish in an easy-breezy 3-0 win over the Carson-Newman Eagles in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Tuesday at Mary Mars Gymnasium.
 
Lincoln Memorial (17-3, 11-1 SAC) trailed briefly early in the first and third sets, but otherwise cruised past Carson-Newman (3-17, 2-10 SAC) to match the best 20-game start in program history, which was first accomplished by the 1998 team. The Lady Railsplitters also notched their second straight 3-0 win over the Eagles at Mary Mars Gym.
 
The Lady Railsplitters dominated nearly every phase of the match, racking up 43 kills on a .287 attack percentage while allowing the Eagles to muster a mere 27 kills on a .111 clip. Lincoln Memorial also matched a season-high mark with 11 service aces. The Lady Railsplitters out-dug the Eagles 58-41 and did not record a reception error, while Carson-Newman had 11.
 
Four different LMU players accounted for at least eight kills. Tone Gill (Nashville, Tenn.) was a monster in the middle, putting up 10 kills on just 12 attempts for a sizzling .750 clip. Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) and Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.) had identical attacking numbers with eight kills on 15 attempts for a .533 clip, while Cash chipped in 14 assists and eight digs as well. Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) joined that duo with eight kills.
 
Setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) – afforded the opportunity to rest at junctures in the match – collected 23 assists, seven digs and four service aces. Lindsey Nartker (New Carlisle, Ohio) matched that game-high mark with four aces, while Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) led all players with 18 digs.
 
Marnie Streeter paced the Eagles with 10 kills, while Alex Biro had six and Natalie Harris contributed four. Anna Patton matched Cash with a game-high 23 assists, while Taylor Lowe led Carson-Newman with 11 digs.
 
The Eagles led 4-2 in the opening set after couple of early kills, but the Lady Railsplitters quickly erased that deficit and grabbed a 5-4 lead on a kill by Jehne. After Carson-Newman tied the set at five apiece, the Lady Railsplitters ripped off a 7-0 run, capped by four consecutive aces by Nartker. Lincoln Memorial never looked back from there, clinching the 25-14 win on kills from Gill and Holland. The Lady Railsplitters hit .448 in the set with 16 kills and just three miscues.
 
The Lady Railsplitters got off to another quick start in set two, rallying off eight straight points on the serve of Sam Cash to cap a 14-2 flurry. From there, Carson-Newman could never close the gap to less than eight points, as an Eagles attack error finished off another 25-14 victory.
 
Carson-Newman mustered its second lead of the match with an early 3-2 advantage in the third set, but the Lady Railsplitters owned the next passage of play, assuming an 11-6 lead on a kill by Holland and an Eagles error. C-N trimmed the deficit to 12-9 at one point before a 4-0 spurt made it 16-9 in favor of the home team. The Eagles kept things close late and pulled to within four on two separate occasions, but a kill from Kaylee Stone (Chattanooga, Tenn.) iced the straight-set sweep with a 25-20 triumph.
 
With the win, the Lady Railsplitters retained the top spot in the South Atlantic Conference standings while pushing the program's best conference start to 11-1. Lincoln Memorial also improved to 32-18 all-time against Carson-Newman.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action this weekend when they host Newberry at 7 p.m. on Friday and Anderson at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Live stat and video links for both of those contests will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com and on the official LMU athletics Twitter page (@LMURailsplitter).