Banner Elk, N.C. – The Lees-McRae Bobcats (1-0) hit .316 as a team en route to a 3-0 sweep of Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball program. The Railsplitters (0-2) are still yet to win a set through the program's first two matches.
Lincoln Memorial hit just .118 as a team as errors continued to plague the freshman-laden roster. The Railsplitters committed nine serving miscues in addition to 21 attack errors. Lees-McRae also held a 4-1 advantage in service aces.
Evan Cory (Metairie, La.) once again led the Railsplitters with a career-high 12 kills on a team-leading 25 attempts. He also added four digs and three assists but also a team-high seven errors in the losing effort.
Joshua Riblett (Torrence, Calif and
Pedro Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) added five. Ryan Iskander (Tempe, Ariz.) led the team with 22 assists and six digs.
Wes Rogman led the Bobcats with 15 kills and 26 attempts. Reto Pfund was the primary facilitator with 33 of the team's 35 assists. John Sobel added nine kills, while Mark Shayka pitched in seven. Keenan Freitas led all players with 11 digs.
Lees-McRae opened the first set on a 7-2 run and never trailed on its way to a 25-18 win. Lincoln Memorial cut the deficit to 11-7, but the Bobcats responded with a 9-3 run to put the game out of reach. Lees-McRae hit a hot .455 as a team compared to Lincoln Memorial's .174.
The Railsplitters opened the second set with an 11-6 advantage, capped by a 6-0 run, which forced Lees-McRae to call a timeout. The Bobcats responded by taking four straight points and 13 of the next 18 to re-take the lead at 19-16. Lincoln Memorial rallied back to tie the game at 21, but Lees-McRae took four of the next five rallies to clinch the second set. Despite the closer score, Lincoln Memorial hit a paltry .043 with nine errors.
The Bobcats again led from start to finish again in set three, although the set never completely got away from Lincoln Memorial. With the score tied 4-4, the Bobcats went on an 8-4 run to take a 12-8 lead and force a Railsplitter timeout. The teams mostly traded points as the score progressed to 21-17, but the Bobcats won the final four rallies to complete the straight-set sweep.
Lincoln Memorial faces a quick turnaround, as it returns to action Saturday, January 14 in the program's home debut at Mary Mars Gymnasium.
