HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters (13-14, 8-11 SAC) were handed a 3-1 loss by the Queens Royals (20-6, 14-5 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Friday night at Mary Mars Gymnasium. Lincoln Memorial took a back-and-forth opening set 27-25, but Queens won the next three by scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-17 to spoil the Lady Railsplitters' Senior Night festivities.
 
The Lady Railsplitters hit just .114 in the contest, including -.071 in the third set and .108 in the fourth and final frame, to fall back below .500 for the season and drop to seventh place in the SAC standings with one match left in the regular season.
 
Kiera Holland – one of four seniors honored prior to the match along with Kayla Kidney, Peyton McDaniel and Samantha Cash – led Lincoln Memorial with 13 kills but also committed 10 errors to finish with a .081 attack percentage. Tone Gill chipped in 12 kills with seven total blocks, while Lindsey Nartker added 11 kills and eight digs. Rylee Storms and Danielle Ged contributed six kills apiece. Olivia Brock led the way with a career-high 37 assists, while Erica Whiteaker collected 30 digs to lead all players.
 
Casey Tarvin fronted the Queens attack with a game-high 16 kills. Jordan Proszenyak added 11 kills but accounted for 14 of the Royals' 27 attack errors. She made up for that by posting a team-leading 20 digs. Jessica Raines added 10 kills to pick up the slack in the absence of Queens' leading hitter Rebecca Cochran, who sat out the match due to injury. Sydney Kunz led all players with 45 assists.
 
The Lady Railsplitters rallied from a 15-8 deficit to take the opening set 27-25, and Queens returned the favor with a 25-23 win in the second to draw the match even at 1-1.
 
The turning point occurred in the third set, when the Lady Railsplitters used five kills and a pair of aces to storm out to a 10-0 lead. However, the Royals quickly dissolved that deficit, using a 22-6 flurry over the next passage of play to gain control of the set and the match. Queens went on to close out that set with a 25-18 victory to grab a 2-1 lead.
 
Lincoln Memorial led at only one point in the fourth set, as back-to-back kills from Holland gave the home team a 9-8 advantage. But the Royals responded to that with an 11-2 spurt. The eight-point cushion that provided was more than enough for Queens, who capped the win with kills from Raines and Proszenyak.
 
Quick Hits
 
- The loss dropped Lincoln Memorial to 7-7 all-time against Queens, who beat the Lady Railsplitters for the fifth time in the last six tries.
 
- Holland was the only senior to appear in the match for the Lady Railsplitters.
 
- The two teams were nearly identical in every statistical category. Queens outhit the Lady Railsplitters by a narrow 51-50 margin while both teams finished with 80 digs apiece. Lincoln Memorial had 13 blocks compared to eight for the Royals. Queens finished with a 7-5 edge in aces.
 
Up Next
 
The Lady Railsplitters close out the regular season against Wingate – the 11-time defending South Atlantic Conference champions – at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Mary Mars Gym.