HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The third-seeded Lady Railsplitters erased a two sets to none deficit to stun the second-seeded Anderson Trojans and advance to the South Atlantic Conference tournament championship for the second time in three seasons with a dramatic 24-26, 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, 15-7 win on Friday night at the DeLoach Center in Hartsville, S.C.
Lincoln Memorial (20-8) dropped a pair of closely-contested sets to fall behind 2-0, but thwarted Anderson's (27-5) bid for match point in set three to extend the match. The Lady Railsplitters then rallied again in the fourth set to push the match to the limit.
With all the momentum on their side, the Lady Railsplitters put away eight kills on a .333 attack percentage in the fifth set to cap the epic come-from-behind victory.
Lincoln Memorial now advances to the SAC tournament title game for the third time in program history, and for the third time the Lady Railsplitters will take a shot against the top-seeded Wingate Bulldogs. LMU will be seeking the first SAC title in program history.
The Lady Railsplitters outmatched the SAC's second-best offensive attack in terms of both kills (66-61) and attack percentage (.168-.113). Lincoln Memorial also combined for 14 blocks compared to only six for the Trojans.
Several standout performances keyed the Lady Railsplitters' victory.
All-SAC second team honoree
Rylee Storms had a career-high 22 kills to go with eight digs, while
Alicia Kessler produced 13 kills and six blocks.
Lindsey Nartker had a monster double-double with 11 kills, 19 digs and five blocks, while All-SAC second-team pick
Tone Gill managed eight kills and a team-high seven blocks.
Danielle Ged and
Kai Wesemann chipped in six and five kills, respectively.
Emily Walter had a double-double with 28 assists and 20 digs as did second-team selection
Erica Whiteaker with 36 digs and 10 assists.
Jayln Knight led Anderson with 15 kills and 19 digs, while Liliana Kinder had 14 kills with a game-high 10 attack errors. Hannah Worsham added 10 kills, while Hailee Wilhelm had nine kills and eight errors. Emily Conlin had a magnificent 51-assist, 26-dig performance, while Meghan DeVaux led the Trojans with 28 digs.
Lincoln Memorial snapped a four-match losing streak against Anderson and avenged a 3-2 loss to the Trojans from back on October 20 at Mary Mars Gym. In that contest, Anderson rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Lady Railsplitters.
Three quick kills pushed the Lady Railsplitters out to a 5-1 lead in the first set to force an early Anderson timeout. Lincoln Memorial maintained a narrow lead after the timeout until kills from Wilhelm and Kinder capped a 4-0 run that gave the Trojans an 11-9 lead, prompting head coach
Jenny Michael to burn a timeout. Anderson eventually extended its lead to 16-11, but Storms smashed down four kills during a 5-1 LMU run that tied the set at 19-19.
The Lady Railsplitters later pulled ahead 23-21 on an ace from Gill and an Anderson attack error, but the Trojans won five of the next six rallies, a stretch carried by kills from Kinder, Worsham and Wilhelm, to snag a hard-fought 26-24 win. Storms had eight kills in that set alone to lead all players.
Anderson set the pace in set two and ran out to an 8-4 lead. However, a handful of attack errors helped the Lady Railsplitters claw back and assume a 14-11 advantage. It was then the Trojans turn to answer and they did so emphatically by reeling off eight unanswered points to take a 19-14 lead. That stretch was ended by four straight LMU attack errors.
The Lady Railsplitters regained their footing over the next passage of play as a pair of kills from Nartker trimmed the deficit to 22-20. After Anderson pulled back in front by three on the next rally, Lincoln Memorial hammered down four unanswered points to earn a chance at set point with a 24-23 lead. However, a kill from Worsham tied it at 24 apiece. Kessler then put the Lady Railsplitters back in the lead with a kill, but Anderson responded by scoring the next three points to earn a 27-25 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
LMU committed two of its 12 attack errors in the set on the final two points to help the Trojans finish off the victory.
The back-and-forth trend continued in set three as the Lady Railsplitters kept the match alive with a dramatic 26-24 triumph. Lincoln Memorial raced out to an 8-2 lead, but the Trojans came back to cut the deficit to 12-11. The Lady Railsplitters never relinquished the lead and eventually took a 23-20 advantage into the home stretch following a kill from Storms.
Anderson wouldn't go down easy, though, as two kills from Hughes and kills from Kinder and Knight fueled a 4-0 run that gave the Trojans a 24-23 lead. However, Nartker and Storms came up with three clutch kills to cap a 3-0 run that forced a fourth set.
After a nip and tuck start to the fourth set, four straight kills encompassed a 5-0 run that catapulted Anderson out to a commanding 19-14 lead. The Trojans continued to hold a four-point margin until three straight kills from Kessler sparked a 4-0 LMU run that tied the set at 20 apiece. Kills from Worsham and Kinder put Anderson back in front, but another kill from Kessler and four consecutive Trojan attack errors gave the Lady Railsplitters a 25-22 come-from-behind win.
Anderson took a brief 2-1 lead in the fifth set on a kill from Worsham, but the Lady Railsplitters grabbed control for good with a 5-0 run paced by kills from Storms and Kessler. Another 4-0 flurry made it a 10-4 lead for Lincoln Memorial, who eventually finished off the dominant 15-7 win with a kill from Storms.
The Lady Railsplitters will take on Wingate for the SAC championship at 2 p.m. on Saturday back inside of the DeLoach Center. Live stats and video will be available at www.lmurailsplitters.com while fans can also follow along with updates on the official LMU athletics Twitter page, @LMURailsplitter.
