PHILIPPI, W.V. –The top-seeded Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team advanced to the championship match of the Independent Volleyball Association Tournament with a straight-set sweep (25-17, 25-14, 25-20) of Queens (8-20) Friday evening. The Railsplitters (13-13) will face Coker, who LMU beat twice during the regular season, in Saturday's final. 
 
The Railsplitters doubled Queens' kills total at 44-22 to set a new program record for a three-set match and hit at a .356 clip. Queens, meanwhile, struggled to a .014 attack percentage. Lincoln Memorial also held the advantages in service aces (5-0), blocks (10-5) and digs (25-23). The team's 41 assists also set a program record for a three-set match.
 
Jordan Walley set a career high with 13 kills to lead the Railsplitters offensively. Joshua Riblett added 11 kills and hit .500. Evan Cory pitched in 10 kills, five block assists and two service aces. Pedro Carvalho increased his nation-leading blocks per set and solo block totals by notching nine blocks with three coming in solo fashion. AJ Risavy recorded 33 assists.
 
Tristan Santoyo led Queens with six kills while Aleksandar Perisic added five and three blocks. The rest of the team combined for 11 kills and 17 attack errors.
 
Lincoln Memorial never trailed in the opening set and used an early 6-0 run to take a 10-3 lead. Queens narrowed the deficit to 12-10, but the Railsplitters responded with a 4-0 spurt to go back up by six. LMU took the final three points of the set as well to win 25-17. Queens had its most kills of any set with eight and hit a match-best .071, but those totals were no match for Lincoln Memorial's 15 kills and .290 hitting percentage. Walley led the way with five kills while Carvalho tallied four blocks.
 
A 10-3 Railsplitter run broke a 5-5 tie in set two to put LMU ahead 15-8. A 6-1 run soon after expanded the lead to 22-11. The Railsplitters held onto their 11-point lead to take the set 25-14 and go up 2-0 in the match. Lincoln Memorial totaled 12 kills and had its most efficient set of the match by hitting .478 while the Royals only had seven kills and hit .000. Walley again led all players with four more kills while Carvalho racked up four more blocks.
 
LMU again never trailed in the final set and totaled 17 kills to take the final set 25-20. Queens had its worst set hitting-wise at -.045 with seven kills compared to eight attack errors. The teams traded the first six points before a 6-1 LMU run put the Railsplitters up for good at 9-4. The Royals battled back to cut the score to 15-13, but the Railsplitters then went on a 7-2 run to take a seven-point lead. Riblett led all players with five kills in the set while Walley and Cory had four apiece.
 
The win was the first at a neutral site for the LMU men's volleyball program.