BRISTOL, Tenn. – Junior Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) powered a potent offensive attack as the Lady Railsplitters swept a pair of Conference Carolinas opponents on Saturday in Bristol, Tenn. Lincoln Memorial (3-1) pushed its winning streak to three by notching a four-set win over Erskine and a straight-set victory over the host King Tornado.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action on Wednesday, September 7, when they welcome the rival Tusculum Pioneers to Mary Mars Gymnasium for the home and South Atlantic Conference opener. That match is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m.
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 3, Erskine 1
 
Backed by a stellar effort in the attack, the Lady Railsplitters cruised past the defending Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament champion Flying Fleet, capturing a four-set win by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 20-25 and 25-22.
 
Lincoln Memorial finished with a .239 attack percentage, accumulating 51 kills with only 18 errors. Erskine actually surpassed the Lady Railsplitters' kill total, racking up 56 kills. But the Flying Fleet were significantly more mistake-prone with 35 errors and a .115 attack percentage. The 35 miscues were the most by an LMU opponent since Coker committed 36 in October of the 2015 campaign.
 
Holland led the way for the Lady Railsplitters with 15 kills, 18 digs, five blocks and two assists, while Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) notched 10 kills, 11 digs and three block assists. Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) turned in another strong performance with nine kills on a .333 attack percentage and 12 digs. Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.) had seven kills on a mere 14 attempts for a .357 clip. Senior setter Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) tied a match-high mark with 46 assists to go along with 16 digs and three kills. Bristol Snider (Chattanooga, Tenn.) buoyed the defensive unit with 14 digs.
 
Erskine was paced by Payton Duncan's 13 kills, although she reached that mark while also committing eight attack errors. Marissa Greenough tallied 12 kills and five digs, while Kristen Dodge racked up 46 assists, eight digs and four kills. Kendall Kirk added 16 digs and five assists, while Marissa Mayfield produced nine kills (with nine attack errors) and nine digs.
 
Neither team led by more than one point early in the opening set until the Flying Fleet used a 5-1 run to build a 14-11 lead on a kill from Duncan. The Lady Railsplitters would quickly regain the momentum, though, winning seven of the next eight rallies to pull ahead 18-15. That stretch was aided by four Erskine attack errors, including three straight. From there, the Lady Railsplitters would never lead by less than two points, closing out the 25-19 victory thanks to a service error and an attack error.
 
Erskine's issue in the attack continued to mount early in the second frame, as the Lady Railsplitters scored seven points off of the Fleet's miscues to build a 10-4 cushion. Lincoln Memorial's lead hovered around six points over the next passage of play until back-to-back kills from Holland extended it to 19-10. Erskine would pressure the Lady Railsplitters a bit late in the set, cutting the deficit to 23-17, but a kill from Sam Cash clinched the 25-18 victory and pushed LMU ahead 2-0 in the contest.
 
The Lady Railsplitters returned the favor in the third set, faltering three times in the attack and once in serve receive to help the Flying Fleet jump out to a 9-3 lead. After trading points back and forth through the middle portion, Lincoln Memorial steadily worked its way back into the set, using three consecutive attack errors to close the gap to 18-14. Later, back-to-back kills from Lindsey Nartker (New Carlisle, Ohio) brought the Lady Railsplitters within two points at 19-17. However, that would be as close as LMU would get, as Erskine won three of the last four rallies to extend the match with a 25-20 victory.
 
The fourth set played out much like the first, as neither team could establish a lead larger than two points until the Lady Railsplitters gained some traction late. Erskine held a 15-13 lead after a service ace, which forced LMU to burn a timeout. After the break, the Lady Railsplitters ripped off four unanswered points to grab a 17-15 lead. The Flying Fleet responded, though, using kills from Kirsten Kaiser and Mayfield to regain the lead at 20-19. However, Lincoln Memorial answered that run with a 5-0 flurry, forcing match point on a kill from Holland. Three rallies later, Holland put an exclamation point on the 25-22 win with her 15th kill of the match.
 
The win was LMU's second against Erskine since the start of the 2015 campaign, as the Lady Railsplitters improve to 2-0 in the all-time series.
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 3, King 0
 
The Lady Railsplitters turned in another brilliant offensive performance to perpetuate their history of dominance against the Tornado, winning their sixth straight in the series dating back to 1998 by scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-15.
 
Lincoln Memorial accounted for 38 kills with only nine attack errors, good for a .330 attack percentage. Along with that, the Lady Railsplitters racked up 16 block assists and two solo blocks to force King into 19 attack errors and a .154 attack percentage.
 
Holland was front and center for the Lady Railsplitters once again, producing 10 kills on a .318 clip to go along with four digs, a solo block and two block assists. Sam Cash notched nine kills on only 18 attempts for a .500 attack percentage while chipping in eight digs, three assists and two block assists. Jehne added seven kills on 12 attempts. Tone Gill (Nashville, Tenn.) was also a factor, tallying four kills and six block assists. Abby Cash had 27 assists and a match-high 11 digs.
 
Cathy Scaniffe paced the Tornado with 10 kills, while Tristyn Lozano had eight kills. Remi Thele was the only other King player with more than five kills, finishing with six. Haley Roe led all players with 31 assists, while Sydney Pigage led the way with nine digs.
 
The Lady Railsplitters led wire-to-wire in the opening set, using a kill by Brock, an Abby Cash service ace and a King attack error to race out to an 11-6 lead. From there, Lincoln Memorial continued to pluck away, as a kill from Jehne and another Tornado attack error made it 19-12. Holland and Sam Cash both notched kills down the stretch, as the Lady Railsplitters cruised to a 25-17 win.
 
King won the first two points of the second frame, but it would be all Lady Railsplitters after that. Lincoln Memorial won six of the next seven rallies to grab a 6-3 lead. The Lady Railsplitters maintained a slight 10-8 edge after a bad set, but kills from Thele and Scaniffe put King back in front 11-10. That lead would be short-lived, though, as Lincoln Memorial spun off a 6-0 run to take a 16-11 lead, capped by an Abby Cash ace. That would be more than enough breathing room for the Lady Railsplitters, who never led by less than four points after that and clinched the 25-20 win on a kill from Gill. LMU was ultra-efficient in that frame, hitting .400 with 13 kills and only one error.
 
The Lady Railsplitters set the pace again early in the third frame, using kills from three different players to assume a 10-6 advantage. The Tornado would hang around, cutting the deficit to 11-9 on a Lozano kill, but the Lady Railsplitters capped a 9-4 and took a 20-13 lead on a kill by Jehne. Lincoln Memorial ended the frame with a 3-0 flurry, which was finished off with a Kayla Kidney (Chandler, Ariz.) kill, to win the set 25-15 and complete the straight-set sweep.