HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team (8-14) was handed its second loss in as many days by Charleston (9-10) at Mary Mars Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles limited the Railsplitters to a collective .083 attack percentage to capture the win by scores of 25-23, 28-26 and 27-25.
Lincoln Memorial had a lead late in every set, but was unable to finish one off despite allowing the Golden Eagles to hit just .146 in the match and produce 38 kills – 10 less than they had in their four-set win over the Railsplitters on Friday night.
Evan Cory (Metairie, La.) paced the Railsplitters with 12 kills on a .423 clip with seven digs.
Joshua Riblett (Torrence, Calif.) logged seven kills, but also finished with a career-high 13 attack errors, which were more than half of what the Railsplitters committed as a team.
Pedro Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) tallied four kills and three blocks.
Marcus Molina (Newport Beach, Calif.) led the team in blocks with four to go along with two kills.
Ryan Iskandar (Tempe, Ariz.) notched 29 assists and matched Cory for the team lead in digs with seven.
Ryan Santos led the Golden Eagles with a match-high 15 kills, while five other players finished with at least two kills. Byron Hurd had six, Anthony Rivera added five, Eugene Stuart produced four and Brandon Greenway chipped in three. Rivera also led all players in assists with 31, digs with 13 and blocks with seven.
As a team, Charleston produced 16 blocks compared to only seven for the Railsplitters.
The first set was characterized by its runs. The Golden Eagles controlled the early going and used a 4-1 flurry to build a 14-12 lead, but the Railsplitters responded with a 5-0 run and took an 17-14 lead on a Charleston attack error. The Golden Eagles then controlled the next passage of play, winning five of the next six rallies to retake the lead at 19-18 on a kill by Rivera. Lincoln Memorial answered and held leads of 20-19, 21-20 and 23-22 down the stretch, but Charleston closed with a 3-0 spurt. Two kills from Hurd followed by an LMU ball-handling error clinched the 25-23 win for the Golden Eagles.
Charleston carried that momentum into the second set and used three consecutive LMU attack errors to assume a 15-11 lead. The Railsplitters pulled to within one on three different occasions over the next passage, but a kill from Stuart extended the Golden Eagles' lead to 20-17. From there, Lincoln Memorial used three Charleston miscues and a kill from Cory to take a 21-20 lead. The two teams traded points for the next stretch until the Golden Eagles took a 25-24 lead courtesy of an attack error. The Railsplitters staved off set point twice to extend it, but kills from Rivera and Greenway finished off Charleston's 28-26 win.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair early, but the Railsplitters took a slim 12-10 leaf following a kill from Carvalho and two Charleston miscues. The Golden Eagles fought back and grabbed a brief 15-14 lead after back-to-back LMU mistakes, but a kill from Riblett capped a 3-0 run that put the Railsplitters back up 17-15. It was then Charleston's turn to swing the momentum, winning seven of the next nine rallies to jump ahead 22-19. The Railsplitters answered with a 5-1 run to give themselves a chance to force a fourth set, but committed four miscues over the next five rallies to hand Charleston a 27-25 win.
The Railsplitters are back in action on Tuesday, March 14 when they host North Greenville at 7 p.m.
