HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters built a 2-1 lead but couldn't hold on in a five-set loss to the Anderson Trojans on Saturday at Mary Mars Gymnasium.
In a matchup of the No. 2 and 3 teams in the South Atlantic Conference standings, Lincoln Memorial (14-7, 10-5 SAC) and Anderson (24-3, 15-2 SAC) went down to the wire as the two teams battled back and forth throughout.
The Trojans cruised to a 25-10 victory in set one, but the Lady Railsplitters answered with 25-23 and 25-20 wins over the next two frames to earn two opportunities to win the match. However, Anderson came all the way back with 25-21 and 15-11 wins in sets four and five to snap LMU's five-match winning streak and sweep the season series.
Anderson mounted an 18-kill difference on the stat sheet, racking up 71 kills on an efficient .268 attack percentage compared to 53 kills for the Lady Railsplitters on a respectable .177 clip.
Rylee Storms paced the Lady Railsplitters with 15 kills to go along with eight digs and four blocks, while
Lindsey Nartker had 12 kills, 11 digs, three aces and two blocks.
Kai Wesemann,
Danielle Ged and
Tone Gill chipped in eight kills apiece, while Ged and Gill combined for nine total blocks.
Emily Walter tallied 45 assists and 15 digs.
Erica Whiteaker accounted for a team-best 26 digs.
Hailee Wilhelm, Regan Duty, Liliana Kinder and Jayln Knight carried the Anderson attack as each member of that quartet had 13 kills or more. Wilhelm was sensational with a game-high 20, while Duty produced 16. Kinder had 14 kills, while Knight logged 13 kills, 13 digs and two blocks. Emily Conlin had an eye-popping 60 assists and 20 digs, while Meghan DeVaux matched Conlin for the team-high mark with 20 digs as well.
The Lady Railsplitters managed only seven kills in the opening set, while the Trojans racked up 16 on a remarkable .538 attack percentage to race away with a 25-10 victory.
Lincoln Memorial adjusted and responded in set two, though, hitting .429 while piling up 16 kills to draw the match even with a 25-23 victory. Anderson led 18-15 late in that set, but the Lady Railsplitters rallied to take a 23-21 lead thanks to a combination of kills and Anderson attack errors. A kill from Nartker and a block from Gill and Wesemann eventually sealed the victory.
The third set was another tightly-contested affair that featured eight ties and four lead changes. The Trojans again led in the early going 15-13, but an 8-3 spurt gave the Lady Railsplitters the lead for good. Kills from Nartker and Gill and a service ace encompassed a 3-0 closing run that gave the Lady Railsplitters a 25-20 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Anderson relied on a red-hot attack to extend the match to a fifth set, recording a match-high 19 kills in set four on a .310 attack percentage. The Lady Railsplitters never led and tied the set just three times at the start as the Trojans controlled the pace in a 25-21 win.
The Lady Railsplitters jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set before the Trojans rattled off a 5-1 run. LMU fought back to tie the set on three separate occasions after that, but a 3-0 run gave Anderson the lead for good. A block from Ged and Storms closed the gap to 12-11 before the Trojans ended the set and the match with three straight points.
LMU looks to rebound on Friday, October 26 with a matchup against Mars Hill at Mary Mars Gym at 7 p.m.
