CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Lady Railsplitters (6-7, 3-6 SAC) rallied out of a 2-0 hole but could not complete the comeback in a five-set loss to the Queens Royals (11-4, 6-3 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Friday night inside of the Levine Center. Lincoln Memorial was handed its fourth straight loss, while Queens pushed its winning streak to four by scores of 25-19, 26-24, 19-25, 23-25 and 15-10.
 
The Lady Railsplitters rode their defense to nearly fight all the way back and stun the Royals. Queens hit .281 and waltzed in the opening set, but Lincoln Memorial held the home team to .065, .023 and .104 clips in the next three sets. The Lady Railsplitters won sets three and four to send the match to a fifth frame, where Queens regained its footing and hit .292 to stifle LMU's comeback bid.
 
All told, Lincoln Memorial racked up 20 block assists and a pair of solo blocks to hold the Royals to a .130 attack percentage.
 
However, the Lady Railsplitters committed 30 of their own attack errors and hit just .133. In addition to that, Queens finished with 13 aces to extend its SAC-leading mark to 114 for the season.
 
Kiera Holland had 16 kills to lead the Lady Railsplitters, while Lindsey Nartker contributed a season-high 12, but that duo combined for 19 of the team's 30 errors. Freshman Alicia Kessler and redshirt-junior Tone Gill were the most efficient hitters of the night for the Lady Railsplitters with 10 and eight kills, respectively. Kessler hit .318, while Gill managed those eight kills on just 17 attempts for a .353 clip.
 
Erica Whiteaker had a game-high 32 digs with four assists and two of the team's six aces, while freshman Sarah Jones racked up a career-high 17 scoops. Nartker had 11 digs to finish with a double-double. Olivia Brock led the team with 22 assists to go along with nine digs, while Danielle Stachura produced 17 assists and five scoops.
 
Jessica Raines led the Queens attack with 19 kills on a .349 clip and paired that with six digs and five block assists. Rebecca Cochran added 10 kills and 13 digs. Taylor Henry and Alex Thompson chipped in eight kills apiece. Jaycee Jones led the team with 21 digs, while Sydney Kunz had a match-high 47 assists.
 
The Lady Railsplitters trailed just 10-9 in the first set following a Queens ball-handling error, but the Royals won the next six points, capped by back-to-back aces from Kunz, to take a 16-9 lead. Lincoln Memorial never trailed by less than four points after that, while two straight LMU attack errors ended the set.
 
Two kills from Raines and another Lady Railsplitter miscue gave the Royals a 15-9 lead in the second set. The Royals continued to hold sway at 18-13 after a kill from Thompson, but the Lady Railsplitters reeled off five unanswered points to tie it at 18-18. The set went back and forth after that until LMU took a 24-23 lead courtesy of a service error. However, the Royals used kills from Raines and Cochran as well as a Mallory Swarts ace – one of her five in the match – to take a 26-24 win.
 
Queens raced out to a 7-2 lead in the third set, but the Lady Railsplitters responded with five straight points to tie it back up. Neither team led by more than two points over the next passage of play until Lincoln Memorial took a 22-18 lead on kills by Gill and Kessler. That was enough cushion for the Lady Railsplitters, who capped the 25-19 win with an ace from Jones.
 
The Royals held an 8-5 edge in the fourth frame until Lincoln Memorial went on a 7-0 run capped by three kills from Nartker to take a 12-8 lead. Queens later used a 4-0 spurt to regain the lead at 14-13, but LMU won four of the next five rallies to carry an 18-15 lead into the closing stretch. Queens fought back and eventually took a 23-22 lead, but two kills from Rylee Storms and another by Nartker clinched the Lady Railsplitters' 25-23 win and forced set five.
 
Queens never trailed in the fifth stanza, opening on a 7-3 run. After that slow start, the Lady Railsplitters were never able to cut the deficit to less than three, as the Royals ended the thriller with a 15-10 win.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action on Saturday when they head to Wingate, N.C. to face the undefeated and 11-time defending SAC champion Wingate Bulldogs at 2 p.m.