HARROGATE, Tenn. – Despite a solid all-around offensive effort, the Lady Railsplitters (6-5) suffered a 3-1 loss to the Francis Marion Patriots (5-8) in NCAA Division II volleyball action on Friday night inside of Mary Mars Gymnasium. Francis Marion defeated Lincoln Memorial for the first time since 2009 by scores of 25-19, 14-25, 25-22 and 25-20.
 
Lincoln Memorial snapped a string of six straight matches with an attack percentage below .200, hitting .221 with 45 kills and just 23 errors. However, Francis Marion rallied behind Erika Hartings and Kayla Arthur to rack up 49 kills with a similar .202 attack percentage. The Lady Railsplitters also finished with a season-low four blocks.
 
Freshman Alicia Kessler led Lincoln Memorial with a career-high 10 kills on a .238 clip, while Rylee Storms contributed nine kills and five digs. Lindsey Nartker produced eight kills and eight digs, while Kiera Holland and Tone Gill had seven kills apiece. Olivia Brock put up a career-best 26 assists and seven digs, while Danielle Stachura handed out a season-high 16 helpers. Standout libero Erica Whiteaker was kept relatively quiet, matching a season-low mark with 12 digs.
 
Hartings and Arthur powered the Patriot offense, combining for 33 of the team's 49 kills. Hartings had 17 on a sizzling .364 clip and added eight digs and three blocks, while Arthur put down 16 kills on a .263 mark. Shelbi Meek also made an impact with eight kills. Tori Carpenter tallied a match-high 38 assists, while Natalie Vaughn led all players with 14 scoops.
 
The Patriots set the pace in the opening set, using a kill by Meek and an ace from Arthur to take a 12-8 lead. Francis Marion later extended that lead to 14-9 on a kill from Hartings. The Lady Railsplitters trimmed the deficit to 15-12 on a service error, but the visitors won six of the next seven rallies to build a commanding 21-13 lead. A kill from Hartings ended the first set in favor of Francis Marion, 25-19.
 
The Lady Railsplitters responded triumphantly in the second set, racking up 15 kills on a .500 attack percentage to even the match with a landslide 25-14 victory. Lincoln Memorial never trailed in the frame, winning the first four points before building its lead to 9-2. A kill from Kessler and a block by Gill and Nartker eventually clinched the match-tying win for LMU.
 
The third set went back and fourth early, but Francis Marion used a short run to take a 13-10 lead on an LMU attack error. The Patriots later used a kill from Hartings to extend their cushion to 20-14. The Lady Railsplitters rattled off five unanswered points to cut the deficit to 20-19, but three kills from Arthur over the next four rallies made it 23-20 in favor of Francis Marion. LMU cut it to one again at 23-22 on a kill by Storms, but FMU won the next two points to take a 2-1 lead.
 
The Lady Railsplitters led 10-8 in the fourth set after back-to-back aces from Holland, but Francis Marion went on an 8-2 run after that to take a 16-12 lead. Lincoln Memorial never trailed by less than two for the remainder of the set, while Arthur finished off the Patriots' four-set win with a kill.
 
Lincoln Memorial returns to South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Anderson Trojans invade Mary Mars Gym. The Trojans captured their sixth straight win on Friday night with a 3-1 triumph at Carson-Newman.