GREENWOOD, S.C. – The Lady Railsplitters (8-8) accumulated a season-high .330 attack percentage to open the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-20 sweep of the Georgia College Bobcats (9-4) on Friday afternoon.
Lincoln Memorial racked up 46 kills and made just 11 errors to post the program's highest attack percentage since recording a .384 hitting percentage against Mars Hill on October 25, 2016. On the other end of the spectrum, the Lady Railsplitters used seven blocks to hold Georgia College to only 33 kills with 20 errors for a .117 mark.
Kiera Holland led the way with 14 kills and hit .333, while
Rylee Storms and
Lindsey Nartker had 11 kills apiece with .524 and .321 respective attack percentages.
Danielle Ged added five kills on just 10 attempts for a .400 clip.
Olivia Brock put up 20 assists and 10 digs for a double-double, while
Erica Whiteaker led all players with 15 scoops.
Ebony Powers was the only Georgia College player with more than eight kills, finishing with 11 on a .207 percentage. Emily Crowell chipped in eight kills, while Taylor Svehla had six. Kayla Brockaway's 26 assists led all players and she also matched Libby Bochniak for the team lead with 10 digs.
The Lady Railsplitters were red hot in the opening set, racking up 16 kills with just three errors for a .406 attack percentage. Over that same span, the Bobcats had just 11 kills on a .179 clip. Lincoln Memorial was clinging to a slim 10-9 margin until three kills by Holland sparked a 5-0 run. Georgia College won the next three points, but the Lady Railsplitters tallied four unanswered points after that to take a 19-12 lead. Kills from Holland and
Danielle Ged completed LMU's 25-18 win.
The Lady Railsplitters outdid themselves in set two, surpassing the first-set total with 18 kills on a .405 clip to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Georgia College led 7-4 early, but an 8-1 run aided by five Bobcat errors gave Lincoln Memorial a 12-8 lead. The Bobcats fought back and cut the deficit to 17-15 before kills from Storms, Nartker and Holland put LMU in front 21-15. The Lady Railsplitters never led by less than four after that, while Storms ended the frame with a kill.
Lincoln Memorial took control of the third and final set early, scoring the first four points before racing out to a commanding 10-4 lead. The Bobcats used a 5-0 scoring run to close the gap to 12-11, but LMU won six of the next seven rallies to extend the lead back to 18-12 on three straight Georgia College attack errors. The Bobcats briefly threatened late in the set before kills from Nartker and Storms ended the match.
Lincoln Memorial improved to 2-0 all-time against Georgia College with the victory. The Lady Railsplitters beat the Bobcats in five sets last season in the first meeting between the two programs.
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action at 4 p.m. today when they face the Lander Bearcats. Live stats and video links are available at www.lmurailsplitters.com.
