SALISBURY, N.C. – Powered by an efficient offensive attack, the Lady Railsplitters captured their third straight win with a 3-0 sweep at Catawba on Saturday afternoon inside of Goodman Gymnasium. Lincoln Memorial topped the Indians for the 14th time in the last 16 meetings and maintained sole possession of fourth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings by set scores of 27-25, 25-15 and 25-19.
The Lady Railsplitters (12-6, 8-4 SAC) hit well over .280 in all three sets and finished with a .297 attack percentage overall – the team's second-best mark of the season behind only their .357 effort against Chowan on September 1. Catawba (6-17, 2-10 SAC), meanwhile, hit just .115 and produced only 34 kills compared to LMU's 47.
Three players cracked double-figure kills for the Lady Railsplitters.
Rylee Storms led that trio with 13 kills on a .393 attack percentage, while
Kai Wesemann matched her career-high mark with 11 kills.
Lindsey Nartker produced a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs.
Tone Gill chipped in seven kills,
Emily Walter had 37 assists and seven digs, and
Erica Whiteaker led all players with 17 digs.
Allie Grubb was the only Catawba player to finish with over seven kills, leading the team with 13. Micah Ensor had seven, while Kimberly Hurtado had five and Kylie Morgan chipped in four. Morgan Hester had a double-double with 27 assists and 10 digs. Morgan led the team with 11 digs.
The Lady Railsplitters had to survive a determined comeback effort from the Indians to clinch a 27-25 victory in the opening set. Ged's fifth kill of the frame pushed Lincoln Memorial ahead 23-19 and all but assured the final outcome, but three kills made up a 4-0 run that drew the set even at 23 all. The Lady Railsplitters never completely relinquished the lead, though, and used a kill from Nartker and a Catawba attack error to close out the nail-biting win.
After a dogfight in set one, the Lady Railsplitters had a much easier time in set two, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match with a decisive 25-15 win. The Indians scored the first three points of the frame, but Lincoln Memorial won 10 of the next 13 points to race in front 10-6. Back-to-back kills from Grubb cut the deficit to 15-13 before the Lady Railsplitters closed out the set on a 10-2 run. That flurry was aided by five Catawba attack errors, including three straight to end the set. LMU hit .286 in the second compared to a dismal -.097 mark for the Indians.
Another big run proved to be the difference for the Lady Railsplitters in their 25-19 sweep-clinching victory in set three. Back-to-back attack errors brought Catawba within one point at 13-12, but Lincoln Memorial rattled off a 7-1 spurt on the back of three kills from Nartker over the next passage of play to take a 20-13 lead. The Indians were unable to close the gap to less than four points after that while kills from Storms and Nartker ended the match.
Winners of four of their last five matches, the Lady Railsplitters conclude their three-match road trip on Tuesday with a matchup at Tusculum. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
