HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters (4-1, 1-0 SAC) look to continue their winning ways on Tuesday night, when they travel to nearby Jefferson City, Tenn. to take on the defending NCAA Division II Southeast Region champion Carson-Newman Eagles (1-4, 1-0 SAC) in a 7 p.m. South Atlantic Conference contest inside of Holt Fieldhouse.
 
Schedule/Game Day Links
 
Tuesday, September 13 at Carson-Newman (7pm) Live Stats / Video
 
Notes on the Lady Railsplitters:
Preview with Coach Michael on the Papa John's Splitter Sound Bites podcast
 
-Lincoln Memorial only played one match last week, but it was a doozy, as the Lady Railsplitters extended their winning streak to four with a thrilling five-set win over the Tusculum Pioneers in front of a frenzied Mary Mars Gymnasium crowd on Wednesday night. After taking the first two sets in relatively easy fashion, the Lady Railsplitters dropped sets three and four before clinching the victory with a 15-7 win in set five to improve to 1-0 in SAC play. Lincoln Memorial hit .251 as a team in the match, marked by a .357 clip in the decisive fifth frame.
-Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) and Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) led the way for the Lady Railsplitters, combining for 39 of the team's 66 kills. Holland posted a season-high 21 kills on a .347 clip to go along with 18 digs, while Cash collected a career-best 18 kills and 15 digs with a .317 attack percentage. Through five appearances, Holland (3.47) and Cash (2.61) are ranked sixth and 11th, respectively, in the SAC in kills per set.
-Senior setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) produced 55 assists and 14 digs in Wednesday's win over Tusculum. With that, the New Carlisle, Ohio native reached two career milestones, notching her 3000th career assist as well as her 1,000th career dig. Cash became just the fifth player in program history to record 3,000 assists while becoming just the 13th player with 1,000 digs. She is only the third player in LMU volleyball's history to notch 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs, joining Lauren Kiwacka and Katie Holly.
-The Lady Railsplitters will be looking to secure their first five-match winning streak since the 2014 season, when Lincoln Memorial won six straight games from September 12-20. It would mark just the fourth winning streak of five games or longer since the start of the 2012 campaign.
-The Lady Railsplitters are currently leading the South Atlantic Conference in blocks per set with 2.39. Middle blockers Tone Gill (Nashville, Tenn.), Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) and Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.) are leading the charge in that department, as Gill has accounted for 1.18 blocks per set, while Ged and Jehne are tallying 1.00 apiece.
 
Notes on Carson-Newman:
 
-The Eagles, who finished as the SAC regular-season runners-up and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight last season, are off to a slow start, but that is mostly a product of an incredibly difficult schedule. Carson-Newman opened the season in Pensacola, Fla. against a quartet of top-25 teams and lost all four of those contests, falling in four sets to defending National Champions Wheeling Jesuit before being swept by Central Missouri, Findlay and West Florida. However, the Eagles got back on track on Friday night with a straight-sets sweep over Mars Hill in the SAC opener.
-In Friday's win over Mars Hill, Carson-Newman showed flashes of what made them so dominant last season, hitting .227 as a team while holding the Lions to a meager .068 attack percentage. Five different Eagles finished with at least five kills in the contest.
-After losing their top three hitters from last season, the Eagles are now incredibly young in the attacking front, as all six of their top players in terms of kills per set are underclassmen. Freshmen Marnie Streeter (2.07 kills/set, .044 attack percentage) and Abbie McFarlane (1.89 kills/set, .140 attack percentage) are leading the way, followed by reigning SAC Freshman of the Year Natalie Harris, who is averaging 1.81 kills per set on a .257 attacking clip. Freshmen Kendall Cooley, Alex Biro and Allie Foster are chipping in over a kill per set as well.
-The Eagles might be young in the attack, but they have a veteran group of specialists in setters Morgan Harlan and Anna Patton and libero Taylor Lowe. Harlan is leading the team with 5.75 assists per set, while Patton is producing 5.17 assists and 1.25 digs per set. Lowe leads Carson-Newman defensively with 5.69 digs per frame. Patton was an All-SAC second team selection last season.
-Carson-Newman has a combined 23-4 record at Holt Fieldhouse since the start of the 2014 season.
 
Series History:
 
-The Lady Railsplitters are 30-18 all-time against the Eagles, but Carson-Newman has won three of the last four meetings. Lincoln Memorial ended a three-game losing streak against the Eagles in last season's meeting in Harrogate, upending Carson-Newman in straight sets in one of the most memorable matches in recent memory.
-Lincoln Memorial owns a 12-10 road record against Carson-Newman, but will be looking to win at Holt Fieldhouse for the first time since 2013. In last season's visit to Jefferson City, the Lady Railsplitters and Eagles went the distance, with Carson-Newman pulling out a 15-9 win in set five to clinch the victory.