HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters (9-10, 4-7 SAC) return to South Atlantic Conference play this weekend when they welcome Coker and Newberry to Mary Mars Gymnasium for a pair of pivotal league clashes. Lincoln Memorial hosts Coker (10-11, 4-8 SAC) at 7 p.m. on Friday before facing Newberry (8-11, 4-8 SAC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Basics
Friday, October 20 vs. Coker – 7pm
Live Stats
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Saturday, October 21 vs. Newberry – 2pm
Live Stats
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Quick Hits
- The Lady Railsplitters took a break from SAC play last weekend and toured South Carolina for four matches in the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge. Lincoln Memorial went 2-2 over the weekend, recording dominant wins over Georgia College (3-0) and Augusta (3-1) between straight-set losses to Lander and USC Aiken.
- Senior outside hitter
Kiera Holland was the star of the week for the Lady Railsplitters. She opened the week with a career-high 25 kills in a win over Mars Hill last Tuesday before recording 13-plus kills in three of the team's four matches over the weekend. Holland also hit over .250 in four of the five matches.
- Freshman right side
Alicia Kessler produced a pair of double-digit kill efforts last weekend, racking up 10 kills on a .529 attack percentage against Lander before notching 13 kills in the win over Augusta. Kessler has accounted for at least 10 kills in four of her last nine matches.
- The Lady Railsplitters have been up and down offensively this season. Overall, LMU is ranked fourth in the conference in kills per set with 12.14 and fifth in attack percentage with a .175 clip. In wins, those numbers jump to 13.26 and .215, respectively, while they dip to 11.11 and .136 in losses.
- Lincoln Memorial is 5-3 at home this season compared to 2-7 on the road. Prior to beating Mars Hill in the team's last home match on October 10, the Lady Railsplitters had lost three successive contests at Mary Mars.
- The Lady Railsplitters lead the SAC in total blocks with 156.
Danielle Ged has led that effort with 72 blocks, ranking second in the league in that department.
Tone Gill is third in the SAC with 66.
- Lincoln Memorial is currently tied for sixth place in the SAC standings with nine matches left in the regular-season schedule. The Lady Railsplitters will play six of those last nine matches at home.
Know the Opponents
- Coker comes into the weekend with wins in three of its last five matches but suffered a 3-0 loss to Wingate in its most recent appearance last Saturday. The Cobras were limited to 13 kills with 17 attack errors in the loss to the league-leading Bulldogs.
- Despite ranking second in the SAC in total attack attempts, the Cobras are recording the fourth-fewest kills per set in the league with 11.44. The team ranks second-to-last in attack percentage with a .136 clip. Coker is hitting a league-worst .110 in SAC matches this season.
- Taylor du Bray leads the team with 2.76 kills per set while adding 4.01 digs per frame. Madison Bingle is putting down 2.38 kills per frame with 3.67 digs per set. Chloe Attram and Alexis Berles have been the most efficient hitters on the team with .202 and .236 attack percentages. Attram leads that duo with 1.91 kills per set.
- Senior setter Christen Bragg is leading the team with 9.44 assists per set to go along with 3.29 digs per frame. She is averaging a hair over nine kills a set in SAC play.
- Kara Overholt paces the Cobras with 5.01 digs per set. Behind Overholt, Coker leads the SAC in total digs and ranks third in digs per set as a team with 19.95. Despite that, opponents are averaging over 13 kills per set with a .167 attack percentage against the Cobras.
- Coker is 2-5 in true road matches this season. The Cobras will be looking for their first road win since beating Newberry on September 19.
- Newberry has lost its last three matches and won just two sets total over that span, which features setbacks against Wingate, Queens and Augusta.
- The Wolves are near the bottom of the league with 11.54 kills per set and a .133 attack percentage in SAC play. Newberry also averages the fewest blocks per set in the conference with 1.25.
- Sophomores Sidra Triplett and Toni-Anne Whitlow lead the Wolves with 2.68 kills per set apiece. Triplett is hitting .197 while also leading the team with 41 blocks, while Whitlow is hitting .155 to go along with 24 blocks. Vanessa Blas has added 1.79 kills per set.
- Newberry's setting duties are split between freshman Taylor Garrison and junior Maggie Marsh, but Garrison has taken the lion's share of the sets with a team-high 530 assists and 7.36 per set.
- Junior Kensley Jordan leads the team with 4.51 digs per set. She is one of six players averaging over two scoops per frame for the Wolves.
- Newberry is just 1-5 on the road this season. That one win came against last-place Catawba in five sets on October 7.
Head-to-Head
- Lincoln Memorial suffered its first-ever loss to Coker in the teams' first matchup this season on September 15 in Hartsville, S.C. The Lady Railsplitters hit just .026 to fall in straight sets to the Cobras, who ended an eight-game losing streak in the series with the win. Lincoln Memorial is 4-0 all-time against Coker at Mars Gym, and the Cobras have won just two sets total in those four meetings.
- Holland led LMU with 15 kills in the first go-around against Coker, but no other Lady Railsplitter finished with more than five. Du Bray paced the Cobras with 11 kills that were offset by 11 attack errors.
- The Lady Railsplitters were handed a 3-1 loss by Newberry back on September 16 to fall to 18-9 in the all-time series. Lincoln Memorial also lost the most recent home match between the two programs, falling in five sets at Mary Mars in October 2016. Neither team has won back-to-back games in the series since LMU won nine straight from 2008-12.
- Holland had 23 kills in that first meeting against the Wolves, while
Rylee Storms added 14 and
Lindsey Nartker had 10. That trio also combined for 24 attack errors in the match, though. Whitlow led Newberry with 15 kills on a .306 clip, while Mary Siebert had 11 and Triplett contributed 10.
