HARROGATE, Tenn. – Senior outside hitter
Kiera Holland piled up a career-high 25 kills to lead the Lady Railsplitters (7-8, 4-7 SAC) to a 25-27, 25-13, 25-20, 26-24 win over the Mars Hill Lions (4-10, 3-8 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Tuesday night at Mary Mars Gymnasium. Behind Holland's spectacular individual effort, the Lady Railsplitters avoided their first six-game losing streak since 1997.
Holland's 25 kills are the most in a single match by an LMU volleyball player since Blaire Fowler recorded 27 against Catawba in November 2012. Holland finished with a blistering .450 attack percentage and added four digs with four blocks.
Holland was backed by 12 kills apiece from
Rylee Storms and
Lindsey Nartker, who finished with a double-double that included 15 digs and five aces.
Alicia Kessler chipped in seven kills, while
Tone Gill had three and matched
Danielle Ged for the team lead in blocks with six.
Olivia Brock had a career-high 28 assists to lead all players in that category, while
Erica Whiteaker produced 47 of the team's 111 digs. It marked Whiteaker's third match of the season with 40-plus digs.
The Lady Railsplitters held the visiting Lions to an .091 attack percentage and outhit Mars Hill 60-44 overall. Lauren Hochstetler led the Lions with 17 kills on a .268 percentage and also added 17 digs and two blocks. Sally Anne Johnson and Maddie Spurgeon had seven kills apiece, while Rebecca Butler had six to go along with a team-best 20 digs. Sarah Pasour led the way with 19 assists for the Lions.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair that included 18 ties, eight lead changes and needed extra points to decide it. The Lions held a 16-13 lead at the midway point and forced Lincoln Memorial to burn a timeout, which the Lady Railsplitters came out of with a 4-0 run to take a 17-16 lead. The two teams went toe to toe down the closing stretch after that. However, Mars Hill broke a 25-25 stalemate with a kill by Rebecca Butler and an LMU attack error to capture a hard-fought 27-25 win.
The second set followed the same trend as the first in the early passage of play, as Mars Hill held a narrow 9-8 edge. However, the Lady Railsplitters turned a nail biter into a romp by closing the set on a 16-5 run. Lincoln Memorial accounted for 16 kills in the set and hit .438 while holding Mars Hill to just seven kills on a -.048 attack percentage over that same span.
The Lady Railsplitters kept it rolling in set three and led virtually wire-to-wire. Mars Hill took its one and only lead of the frame at 8-7 on a kill from Sally Anne Johnson. However, Lincoln Memorial rallied off five straight points aided by three Mars Hill miscues to take a 12-8 lead. The Lady Railsplitters pushed their lead to 21-15 later in the set on a block from Gill and Holland, and the team never led by less than four after that to cruise to a 25-20 victory. The Lions once again failed to break the .100 mark, mustering just eight kills on an .054 clip.
Lincoln Memorial mostly controlled the fourth set, but had to survive Mars Hill's late surge to end the match. Kills from Holland and Kessler pushed the Lady Railsplitters out to a commanding 13-3 lead, but Mars Hill rallied to cut the deficit to 17-12 later in the frame. The Lady Railsplitters remained comfortably in front at 23-15, but the Lions fought all the way back to tie the set at 24-24. However, a block from Ged and Brock followed by a kill from Storms helped LMU clinch the victory with a 26-24 win.
The Lady Railsplitters will take a break from SAC play this weekend when they travel to South Carolina for the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge. Lincoln Memorial will play two matches on Friday and two on Saturday, beginning with a noon first serve against Georgia College on the Lander University campus.
