HICKORY, N.C. – The Lady Railsplitters (12-12, 7-9 SAC) were unable to string together back-to-back South Atlantic Conference wins in a 25-23, 25-19, 27-25 loss to the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (10-10, 6-8 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at Shuford Gymnasium.
Kiera Holland led Lincoln Memorial with 13 kills but also committed 10 of the team's 23 attack errors.
Tone Gill added 11 kills on a .280 attack percentage to go along with five blocks, while
Rylee Storms and
Danielle Ged finished with five kills apiece.
Olivia Brock put up a team-high 25 assists, while
Erica Whiteaker collected 11 digs.
Six different players had at least five kills for the Bears while none had more than nine. Brooke Redmond led the way for Lenoir-Rhyne with nine kills and 12 digs, while Madison Asher and Taylor Prall had seven apiece. Emily Steele chipped in six kills, while Jaclyn Denny and Laila Horton had five each.
The Lady Railsplitters finished with 43 kills compared to 41 for the Bears, but Lenoir-Rhyne was the much more efficient team with a .245 attack percentage compared to LMU's .159 clip. Lincoln Memorial was limited to just six total blocks after piling up a program record 38 block assists in Friday night's win at Catawba.
The Bears racked up 16 kills on a .324 hitting percentage and withstood a late Lincoln Memorial rally to win the opening set. The two teams were deadlocked at 15-15 after a kill by
Alicia Kessler, but Lenoir-Rhyne took the lead for good after that with kills from Prall and Asher. The Bears eventually forced set point at 24-19 on a kill by Horton, but the Lady Railsplitters nearly fought all the way back, riding three kills from Holland to cut the deficit to 24-23. However, an attack error ended the rally and gave Lenoir-Rhyne a 25-23 victory.
Lenoir-Rhyne controlled the pace from start to finish in the second set, but once again had to ward off a late Lady Railsplitter run. The Bears used two kills from Prall and two LMU ball-handling errors to establish an 11-3 lead early in the set. Lenoir-Rhyne continued to pull away from that point on and increased its lead to 19-8 on a kill by Redmond. The Lady Railsplitters kicked it into gear after falling into that 11-point hole, closing the gap to 23-18 on an ace from
Sarah Jones. It was too little too late, though, as kills from Prall and Redmond clinched the Bears' 25-19 win.
The third set was tightly contested until the Bears reeled off four unanswered points – led by two kills from Horton – to assume a 13-7 lead. The Lady Railsplitters kept within striking distance and cut the deficit to 14-10 on a kill from Nartker, but L-R scored five straight points after that to extend the lead to 19-10. Lincoln Memorial continued to fight and rallied all the way back to tie the set at 25 apiece courtesy of three blocks. However, a service error and an attack error ended the Lady Railsplitters' comeback bid in a 27-25 setback.
The loss dropped Lincoln Memorial to 4-9 all-time in Hickory. The Bears also completed a regular-season sweep against the Lady Railsplitters for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action on Tuesday, October 31 when they welcome the Tusculum Pioneers to Mary Mars Gym for a Halloween clash beginning at 7 p.m.
