HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters used an inspired effort brought on by a feverish Mary Mars Gymnasium crowd of more than 600 to defeat the Wingate Bulldogs for the first time in program history and take over sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with a 3-2 win on Friday night. Lincoln Memorial (20-4, 14-2 SAC) snapped a 21-match losing streak against the Bulldogs (22-4, 14-3 SAC) that dates all the way back to the initial meeting in 2007 by scores of 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25 and 15-9.
 
The Lady Railsplitters turned in a dominant defensive effort, holding the Bulldogs to just a .155 attack percentage while forcing the 10-time defending SAC champions into a season-high 32 attack errors. The Lady Railsplitters were at their best defensively in the decisive fifth set, as Wingate hit -.074 and accrued eight attack errors. Lincoln Memorial finished the match with 14 block assists and a pair of solo blocks.
 
On the other side, the Lady Railsplitters hit .166 as a unit and collected 48 kills. Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) led the way with 12 kills on a .303 attack percentage to go along with 11 digs and three aces. Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) contributed 11 kills with seven digs, while Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) had eight kills, 12 digs and five block assists. Tone Gill (Nashville, Tenn.) notched seven kills with three blocks. Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) racked up 39 assists, 11 digs and four kills, while Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) tallied a match-high 21 digs.
 
Oakley Attaway accounted for nearly half of Wingate's 60 kills, racking up a match-high 26 on a .300 attack percentage. Lynnlee Mather produced 11 kills and five block assists, while Abby Saehler notched nine kills and nine digs. Rachel Alles collected 37 assists and 13 digs, while Treslyn Ortiz pitched in 20 digs and seven assists.
 
The Lady Railsplitters struggled to find their footing offensively in the first set, producing just seven kills with nine errors for a -.077 attack percentage. Wingate used that to its advantage and raced out to a 14-7 lead at the midway point of the set. Lincoln Memorial whittled away at the deficit and closed the gap to 19-13 on a Saehler attack error, but three unanswered Wingate points made it 22-13 in favor of the Bulldogs. Kills by Sam Cash and Gill closed the gap to 22-17, but that's as close as LMU would get, as Wingate clinched the 25-18 win with a kill by Saehler.
 
The Lady Railsplitters carried over the momentum from the final rallies of the first set into the second set, hitting .323 as a unit with 12 kills and only two errors. A long service run by Sam Cash consumed an 11-0 run that pushed Lincoln Memorial out to a commanding 13-5 lead. However, the Bulldogs fought all the way back and cut the Lady Railsplitters' lead to 14-13 on an Attaway ace. The Lady Railsplitters never relinquished the lead, though, and eventually pulled ahead 23-18 on a kill from Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.). A kill by Abby Cash drew the match even at 1-1.
 
It was all Wingate early in the third set, as the Bulldogs used back-to-back LMU attack errors and an ace to take a 14-7 lead. The Lady Railsplitters flipped the script in the ensuing passage of play, though, powering in front 18-17 on a Wingate ball-handling error, which capped an 11-3 flurry. The two teams battled back and forth after that, with a kill by Alles drawing the set even at 21 apiece. However, the Lady Railsplitters wrestled away control with three unanswered points, taking a 24-21 lead on a kill by Holland. Another kill by Holland wrapped up LMU's 25-22 victory.
 
The fourth set was all knotted up at 11-11 following a Wingate attack error, but the Bulldogs won the next four points to assert a lead they would not relinquish. Alles had two kills over that stretch. The Lady Railsplitters trimmed the deficit to three points on two separate occasions, but that's as close as they would get, as Wingate won the final three points of the set to force a fifth set with a 25-18 win. The Bulldogs hit .343 in the fourth frame while LMU finished with a mere .086 clip.
 
The Bulldogs led 5-3 early in the fifth frame, but Lincoln Memorial absolutely dominated the next stretch, winning nine of the next 10 points to race ahead 12-6. Wingate could never recover from that, as back-to-back Bulldog attack errors wrapped up the 15-9 win.
 
With the win, the Lady Railsplitters grabbed a one-game lead over the Bulldogs in the SAC standings with six games left in the regular-season schedule. If Lincoln Memorial wins out, the Lady Railsplitters will snap Wingate's streak of 10 consecutive SAC regular-season championships.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action on Saturday when they welcome the Coker Cobras to Mary Mars for a SAC tilt beginning at 2 p.m. Live stats and video links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
 
Quick Hits
 
-The Lady Railsplitters defeated Wingate for the first time in program history, snapping a 21-game losing streak dating back to the 2007 season. Friday night marked just the fifth five-set match in series history and first since the semifinals of the 2015 SAC Championship.
 
-Lincoln Memorial found a way to win despite Wingate finishing with a 60-48 edge in kills. The Bulldogs did commit seven ball-handling errors, while Abby Cash and company finished without a single ball-handling miscue.