HARROGATE, Tenn. -- A new era in LMU athletics begins as the Lady Railsplitter Beach Volleyball team competes for the first time this weekend.
Beach volleyball is the newest NCAA championship sport and the sport's first championship will be held this spring. Currently there are 56 schools at all NCAA levels hosting the sport, which doesn't have a division. This means that the Lady Railsplitters will be competing against Division I, II and III schools. The majority of the schools are on the West coast and the Deep South, though schools in Colorado, Idaho and New Jersey also offer the sport. The closest schools to LMU that offer the sport are Carson-Newman and the University of South Carolina.
The sport is played on a sand court and is scored a little differently than indoor volleyball. The matches are a best of five format in with you have five flights of two players on each team playing a best two of three format with 21 points winning a set. So the results look like those you would see in tennis.
The 12-woman team consists of nine members of LMU's indoor volleyball team and three transfers.
Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio),
Brooke Fleeman (Nashville, Tenn.) and
Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) all had over 200 kills in the indoor season.
Erica Whiteaker (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) and
Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) are also on the beach squad after leading the indoor team in digs last fall.
Bristol Snider (Chattanooga, Tenn.),
Peyton McDaniel (Morristown, Tenn.),
Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) and
Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) also made the transition from indoor to beach.
Newcomers to the squad include
Fernanda Miaci (São José dos Campos, Brazil), who was a standout on the LMU women's soccer team in 2014;
Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.), who played indoor volleyball at Palm Beach State before transferring to Lindsey Wilson where she helped lead the Blue Raiders to the 2015 NAIA National Semifinals; and
Jordan Green (Hazel Green, Ala.), who was a four year standout at Shorter where she finished her indoor career as the school leader in assists (4,571) and third in digs (1,311).
The Lady Railsplitters open play in the College of Charleston Beach Invitational this weekend at the Creekside Tennis and Swim Club in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Other teams competing in the tournament are the College of Charleston, Mercer, Alabama-Birmingham, UNC Wilmington, #8 Georgia State and top-ranked Pepperdine.
To open up the program, the Lady Railsplitters face host College of Charleston Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. The Cougars enter the tournament with a 3-2 record and will face Pepperdine and Mercer on Friday. The duos of Melissa Morello/Kayla Tronick and Devon Rachel/Allison Beckman are players to watch for CofC.
Later on Friday at 3 p.m. the Lady Railsplitters will face Mercer. The Bears enter the weekend with a 4-3 record and will play the College of Charleston and Pepperdine before facing LMU. Tori Penrod/Emily Kregman are the duo to watch for Mercer as they enter the weekend with a 6-1 record, all in straight sets.
Saturday sees LMU play two more matches, beginning with Alabama-Burmingham at Noon. The Blazers come into the weekend with a 2-5 record and will face Pepperdine and UNC Wilmington before playing LMU. Gabbi Moreno/Emily Martinez lead the Blazers with a 6-1 record, mainly at the 4 and 5 positions.
LMU closes out the weekend with a 1:30 p.m. match against eighth-ranked Georgia State. The Panthers are currently 8-1 on the season and will face Pepperdine in a clash of top-ten teams on Friday before facing LMU and UNC Wilmington on Saturday. The pair of Milani Pickering/Delaney Rohan are players to watch for GSU.
After this weekend's play the Lady Railsplitters will play six matches over the next six days as they make a Spring Break swing through Florida and Georgia. They will play at Webber International on Tuesday and Eckerd on Wednesday before playing four matches in Georgia State's Sand Slam next Friday and Saturday.
