HARROGATE, Tenn. – Lincoln Memorial University's men's volleyball team (8-9) returns to the friendly confines of Mary Mars Gymnasium to host Lees-McRae on senior night. LMU picked up its first road victory of the year with a five-set win at Emmanuel last Friday before falling at Erskine in five sets on Saturday. The Bobcats (2-13) have lost six straight and are in last place in Conference Carolinas at 0-8. Lees-McRae last played two weeks ago in a four-set home loss to Emmanuel.
 
LMU and Lees-McRae split last year's two meetings with the home team winning each time. The Bobcats won in straight sets in Banner Elk, N.C. in the Railsplitters' second-ever game. Lincoln Memorial returned the favor two weeks later with a five-set triumph in Harrogate.
 
Friday's match is the teams' only meeting of 2018.
 
Schedule/Gameday Links:
 
Friday, March 16 vs. Lees-McRae (7 p.m.) – Live Stats / Video
 
Quick Hits:
 
- Evan Cory racked up back-to-back 20-kill outbursts in a five-set win at Emmanuel Friday and five-set loss at Erskine Saturday. His 24 kills Friday tied a career high and tied for the second-highest total in program history along with his 49 attempts.
 
- The Railsplitters got back to .500 and picked up their first win of the season away from Mary Mars Gymnasium in the team's five-set win over Emmanuel (23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 16-14). In addition to his 24 kills, Cory set a career high with nine solo blocks. Joshua Riblett added 11 kills. Pedro Carvalho totaled 10 blocks—nine solo—and added seven kills. AJ Risavy set a new career high with 44 assists. Logan Kerley added 15 digs.
 
- Carvalho's 10 blocks tied for the second-highest mark in program history behind his 13-block performance three nights prior.
 
- Despite Cory's 20 kills Saturday, LMU fell in five sets (21-25, 25-20, 27-29, 25-21, 12-15) to Erskine Saturday on afternoon. Carvalho added a season-high 11 kills. Risavy set a new career high for the third straight game with 48 assists. Kerley tied an LMU program record with 20 digs.
 
- The Railsplitters tied a program record with 19 total and nine solo blocks. Dimitrios Kyridis set a career high with nine total blocks including three solo. Carvalho had eight with four coming in solo fashion.
 
- Carvalho is the national leader 1.484 with blocks per set and 21 solo blocks. He has totaled 31 blocks and averaged 2.07 per set over his past three matches.
 
- The Railsplitters are second nationally in blocks per set with 2.79. The team also holds opponents to the sixth-lowest hitting percentage at .210.
 
- Cory has recorded a double-digit kill total in 11 of 17 matches and leads the team with 209 kills, 3.37 kills per set (27^th nationally) and 24 service aces. The sophomore from Metairie, Louisiana has led or been tied for the team lead in kills in 15 of 17 matches. His .309 hitting percentage also ranks 34^th nationally.
 
- Risavy is the only other Railsplitter besides Carvalho to start all 17 matches and appear in all 62 of the team's sets played. The freshman setter has dished out 528 assists and averages 8.52 per set (28^th nationally).
 
- Lincoln Memorial is 7-1 on the season at Mary Mars Gymnasium and 15-6 all-time. Only two home matches have extended beyond three sets this season. The Railsplitters are 1-8 playing away from Harrogate on the year and 3-20 in the program's brief history.
 
- The team has improved its attack percentage from .201 in its inaugural year to .212. Kills per set have decreased slightly from 10.21 to 10.15. Digs per set are also down from 8.80 to 7.94. Blocks per set have increased from 1.98 to 2.64.
 
- LMU has played four straight matches that have extended to five sets after doing so just once in its first 13 matches.
 
Notes on Lees-McRae:
 
- The Bobcats are 0-8 on the road and have been swept in straight sets in six of those matches. The team is 1-5 at home with a win over Coker and 1-0 at a neutral site with a win over Thompson Rivers University in Honolulu, Hawaii.
 
- Lees-McRae last played two weeks ago in a four-set home loss to Emmanuel (26-24, 18-25, 25-22, 33-31). The Bobcats outhit Emmanuel .259-.194 and registered 10 blocks to the Lions' five but committed 10 more service errors (28-18). Robert Bowling led all players with 17 kills.
 
- Wes Rogman leads the team with 156 kills and 2.89 per set. He recorded 15 kills in each of the two matchups against LMU in 2017.
 
- Bowling is second on the team with 120 kills and 2.22 per set.
 
- Of the nine players that have appeared in a match for the Bobcats, five are freshmen and three are sophomores. Hector Serviat, a junior, is the only upperclassman.
 
- Opponents average 11.00 kills per set and are hitting .283 against the Bobcats. Lees-McRae averages 9.46 kills per set and is hitting just .164. Opponents also hold a distinct edge in service aces (100-79) and blocks (103-86).