HARROGATE, Tenn. –After wrapping up a third-place South Atlantic Conference finish this past week, the three-seeded Lady Railsplitters kick off SAC tournament play on Tuesday night when they welcome the sixth-seeded Queens Royals to Mary Mars Gymnasium for quarterfinal-round action. 
 
Lincoln Memorial (18-8) closed out the regular season with wins in nine of its last 11 matches to earn the No. 3 seed for the SAC tournament. The Lady Railsplitters are, however, coming off a 3-0 loss at SAC champion Wingate on Saturday in the regular-season finale. 
 
Queens (14-14) beat both Newberry and Anderson on the final weekend of the regular season to secure the No. 6 seed for the SAC tournament. The Royals are also the defending SAC tournament champions. 
 
Admission for Tuesday's match is $5 for adults, youth (12 and under) and seniors (60 and older), $3 for active and retired military, $2 for college students with ID and free for children under five years old. The LMU athletics department will sponsor the admission fee for the first 100 LMU students that present a valid ID at the ticket gate. 
 
The winner of Tuesday's match will advance to the SAC semifinals to play wither No. 2 Anderson or No. 7 Mars Hill on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Hartsville, S.C. 
 
The Basics 
 
Tuesday, November 6 vs. Queens – 7pm
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Quick Hits 
 
- The Lady Railsplitters opened the final weekend of the regular season with a 25-21, 19-25, 25-14, 25-15 win at Coker on Friday night. Lincoln Memorial racked up 20 block assists to hold the Cobras to a .095 attack percentage. Tone Gill led the way with 12 kills and no errors on 19 attempts, while Lindsey Nartker (11) and Rylee Storms (10) also finished with double-digit kills. 
 
- Lincoln Memorial was befuddled offensively in a 25-17, 25-9, 32-30 loss at Wingate on Saturday in the regular-season finale, hitting just .093 compared to the Bulldogs' .287 clip. Kai Wesemann led the Lady Railsplitters with nine kills, while Storms had eight. No other LMU player had more than three kills. 
 
- The Lady Railsplitters have won at least one SAC tournament match in two of the last three seasons, including a run to the conference championship game in 2016. Lincoln Memorial was eliminated in the opening round last season in a 3-0 loss at Wingate. 
 
- LMU is paced offensively by Storms, Nartker and Gill, who have each deposited at least 180 kills this season. Storms leads the team with 2.80 kills per set and 260 total, Nartker has added 2.20 kills per set, and Gill has posted 2.09 kills per set on a .230 attack percentage. Wesemann has emerged as a consistent contributor this season as well, with 2.09 kills per set on a .153 hitting percentage. 
 
- The Lady Railsplitters were ranked No. 6 in the most recent Southeast Region poll. The top eight teams will earn bids to the NCAA tournament. 
 
- LMU is the third-most efficient offensive team in the conference with a .191 cumulative attack percentage. Meanwhile, opposing offenses are hitting just .146 and averaging only 11.52 kills per set against the LMU defense. 
 
- The Lady Railsplitters are 12-2 at Mary Mars Gym this season. Their only home losses came against Wingate and Anderson, who finished one and two in the SAC standings with a combined 52-5 record. 
 
Know the Opponent
 
- Queens defeated SAC runners-up Anderson 25-17, 18-25, 20-25, 25-12, 15-11 on Saturday to earn the No. 6 seed for the conference tournament. Chanel Turner led that effort with a heroic 20-kill, 24-dig performance, while Logan Witt (16) and Jordan Proszenyak (15) combined for 31 kills in support. 
 
- Prior to last weekend's two wins, Queens had lost three straight matches to Lenoir-Rhyne, Carson-Newman and Augusta. 
 
- The Royals aren't your average six seed. They rank third in the SAC in kills per set with 12.54, first in digs per set with 22.17 and first in aces with 180. 
 
- Casey Tarvin leads the Royals with 3.76 kills per set and 387 kills total, which leads the SAC. Witt has chipped in 2.72 kills per set on a solid .272 attack percentage, while Proszenyak and Turner have compiled 2.40 kills per frame. 
 
- Mallory Swarts paces Queens with 720 total assists and 7.20 per set. Freshman Alexandria Becerra has also made 19 appearances, logging 6.87 assists per set and 378 total over that span. Jaycee Jones leads the team with 5.69 digs per set. 
 
- Queens is just 5-8 on the road this season. The Royals averaged 13.12 kills per set on a .191 attack percentage at home, but those numbers dip to 12.00 and .145 on the road.
 
Series History
 
- Tuesday will be the second SAC tournament meeting between Lincoln Memorial and Queens and the first since the Royals defeated the Lady Railsplitters in four sets in the quarterfinal round in 2013. 
 
- Lincoln Memorial is 9-7 all-time against the Royals. The Lady Railsplitters swept the regular-season series this year, winning 3-1 in Harrogate and 3-1 in Charlotte.