HARROGATE, Tenn. – Lincoln Memorial's offense continued to roll on Wednesday night, as the Lady Railsplitters hit .251 in the match and .357 in the fifth set to withstand the Tusculum Pioneers in a five-set thriller in the South Atlantic Conference and Mary Mars Gymnasium opener.
 
The Lady Railsplitters (4-1, 1-0 SAC) pushed their winning streak to four and got off to a 1-0 start in SAC play in front of a frantic crowd of more than 500 supporters in the 2016 Mary Mars Gym debut. Lincoln Memorial won by scores of 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 28-30 and 15-7 to improve defeat the Pioneers (3-2, 0-1 SAC) for the fifth time in the last six tries at home.
 
Led by Kiera Holland (Columbia, S.C.) and Samantha Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio), the Lady Railsplitters racked up 66 kills and compiled a .251 attack percentage, topping the .200 threshold for the fourth consecutive match. Holland racked up a match-high 21 kills on a .347 attack percentage, falling one shy of matching her career-high mark, while Cash produced a career-best 18 kills on a .317 hitting clip. That duo also did its part defensively, combining for 33 digs. Liz Brock (Lima, Ohio) fell just shy of double-digits with nine kills.
 
Abby Cash (New Carlisle, Ohio) amassed a season-high 55 assists to go along with 14 digs and three block assists, while Bristol Snider (Chattanooga, Tenn.) reset her career-high mark with a team-leading 20 digs. Jamie Jehne (Hollywood, Fla.) also had a solid all-around night, turning in six kills with a match-high five block assists.
 
The Lady Railsplitters were rocking and rolling in the opening set, when they hit .300 as a team and produced 13 kills. After falling into a 6-5 hole, Lincoln Memorial churned out a 7-1 run, capped by a kill from Brock, to assume a commanding 13-6 lead. Tusculum closed the gap to 14-10 on a Dempster kill, but LMU answered with a 4-0 run fueled by two more kills from Brock. The Lady Railsplitters never led by less than seven points after that, clinching the 25-18 win thanks to a service error.
 
The Pioneers set the tone early in the second set, using an LMU attack error and a kill by Aubrey Hawkins to grab an 11-6 lead. Over the next passage of play, the Lady Railsplitters steadily chipped away at the deficit, but continued to trail 16-11 following another attacking miscue. Following a quick timeout, the Lady Railsplitters stormed back into it, ripping off six unanswered points to take a 17-16 lead. From there, the two teams traded points back and forth, until the Pioneers grabbed a 21-20 lead on a service error. But that would be the last lead of the frame for Tusculum, as an attack error, an Abby Cash ace and a bad set catapulted Lincoln Memorial in front. Back-to-back TC attack errors finished off LMU's 25-22 win.
 
Looking to close out the victory, the Lady Railsplitters led the Pioneers 10-9 in the third set following a kill by Abby Cash. But Tusculum would completely dominate the next stretch, spinning off an 11-3 run to assume a 20-13 lead on a Zumack ace. Lincoln Memorial made it interesting late, pulling within two points at 24-22 following a Tusculum miscue, but the Pioneers forced a fourth set with a kill from Garnett.
 
The fourth frame was far and away the most competitive of the match, as the Lady Railsplitters looked to avoid a decisive fifth set and the Pioneers hoped for just the opposite. It was advantage Pioneers early, as Tusculum grabbed a 14-9 lead on another Garnett kill. But the Lady Railsplitters won five straight points after that to tie the set. That would be the first of eight different ties down the closing stretch. The Lady Railsplitters fought off match point three times and even took a 27-26 lead following a ball-handling error, but the Pioneers came out with a 30-28 victory thanks to a kill from Bouley and an LMU attack error.
 
Tusculum won the first point of the fifth set, but that would be the Pioneers' only lead of the frame, as the Lady Railsplitters won eight of the next 10 rallies to pull ahead 8-3 when the two teams switched sides. Kills from Lindsey Nartker (New Carlisle, Ohio) and Holland increased LMU's lead to 11-5. The Lady Railsplitters ended the match on a 3-0 run, using a kill from Danielle Ged (Smyrna, Tenn.) and back-to-back errors by Cassie Born to win the set 15-7.  
 
Tusculum finished with 64 kills and a .194 attack percentage. Rachel Garnett led the way with 14 kills, while Kayli Dempster and Cassie Born collected 11 kills apiece. Sarah Bouley sparked the Pioneers off the bench with nine kills. Shannon Murphy had a team-high 32 assists and seven digs, while Melissa Mazur led all players with 31 digs. Hallie Zumack added 23 assists and 12 digs.
 
With the win, the Lady Railsplitters improve to 30-32 all-time against Tusculum, who is the oldest rival in the history of the program. Lincoln Memorial is now 13-14 all-time versus the Pioneers at home.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will have the weekend off, but begin a three-game road trip next week. That stretch commences with a trip to Jefferson City, Tenn. to face the Carson-Newman Eagles in South Atlantic Conference action at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13.