HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team kicked off its 2018 season with a couple of straight-set sweeps on Friday evening at Mary Mars Gymnasium, defeating Belmont Abbey 25-13, 25-17, 25-21 before taking down King 25-23, 25-11, 25-16. 
 
"I was very happy with our performance tonight, especially because it wasn't like our opponents just rolled over," said head coach Jenny Michael. "We saw some great competition. We had a good mix of success and failure.
 
"We started a little slow in that second match, especially in the first set. For us to be able to come back in that first set, get that energy, that momentum and get the crowd into it again, that was very impressive." 
 
The Lady Railsplitters dominated both sides of the court in both matches. In the opener, LMU hit a blistering .278, including a .450 effort in the first set, while holding the Crusaders to a -.009 attack percentage. They then followed that up by hitting .239 – headlined by a .481 mark in the second stanza - and limiting the Tornado to a .040 clip in the second match. 
 
"Our hitting was a direct reflection of our ability to pass that first ball," Michael said. "That's the kind of execution we need to try to win at a high level."  
 
The Lady Railsplitters wrap up the season-opening weekend on Saturday when they host Chowan at noon and Emmanuel at 4 p.m. at Mary Mars Gym. 
 
Match One: Lincoln Memorial 3, Belmont Abbey 0 
 
Lindsey Nartker paced Lincoln Memorial with eight kills on 17 attempts, good for a .353 attack percentage, while Kai Wesemann provided six kills on just 11 tries. Rylee Storms, Emma Flowers and Tone Gill pitched in five kills apiece. Freshman setter Emily Walter logged a match-high 26 assists while adding 16 digs for a monster double-double in her first career appearance. Erica Whiteaker led the Lady Railsplitters with 19 digs.  
 
Mackenzie Chrapliwy led Belmont Abbey with eight kills, while Lydia Sale had five. That duo also combined to commit 12 attack errors, though. Cassidy Bonito added four kills and led the team with 15 assists. Sarah Kenney led all players with 20 digs. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters scored the first seven points of the opening set and never trailed. Belmont Abbey briefly trimmed the deficit to 12-8, but kills from Gill and Flowers pushed LMU back ahead by seven. The lead never dipped below five after that, while back-to-back kills from Alicia Kessler and two aces from Storms clinched the 25-13 win. 
 
Lincoln Memorial jumped out to another big lead in set two, using a 7-1 run to pull ahead 15-7. The Crusaders closed the gap to 18-14 on an attack error, but a 6-1 spurt put the Lady Railsplitters on the brink of victory. Wesemann wrapped up the 25-17 win with a kill. 
 
Belmont Abbey took its first lead of the match at the start of the third set, but 6-0 run aided by three attack errors pushed the Lady Railsplitters ahead 12-7. A kill from Bonito closed the gap to 18-16 late in the set, yet LMU answered again with a 5-1 run. Kills from Danielle Ged and Storms later wrapped up the 3-0 sweep with a 25-21 triumph. 
 
Match Two: Lincoln Memorial 3, King 0 
 
Flowers led the Lady Railsplitter attack with a spectacular performance, recording a game-high-tying 10 kills on a .391 attack percentage. Storms tallied eight kills, while Nartker chipped in seven. Gill made the most of her 12 attack attempts by posting five kills to go with a match-high six blocks. Walter fell just shy of her second double-double of the day with 28 assists and eight digs, while Whiteaker averaged 10 digs per set to lead all players with 30 in the match. 
 
Julie Ward paced the Tornado offense with 10 kills, but she was the only player on King's side with more than five. Kayley Holtzclaw and Georgia Davis had four apiece, but also combined for 12 miscues. Abby Anderson had 23 assists and seven digs, while Ward also led the team with 15 digs. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters struggled to get into a rhythm in the opening stanza, falling behind 17-9 after a 4-0 spurt for the Tornado. LMU looked destined to drop its first set of the season after Tristyn Lozano put King in front 23-16 with a kill, but the Lady Railsplitters rallied all the way back with a stunning 9-0 run. Flowers sparked that flurry with three kills, while a block by Gill and Storms capped the come-from-behind victory. 
 
That letdown ultimately sealed King's fate, as the Lady Railsplitters raced out to a 9-1 lead in the second set. After the Tornado briefly rallied and brought it back to 13-8, LMU ripped off a 10-1 run to take a commanding lead. A kill by Wesemann ended the set and gave the Lady Railsplitters a 2-0 edge. LMU had 13 kills in the set without an error, while King hit .000 with eight kills and eight errors. 
 
An early 8-2 run gave the Lady Railsplitters the breathing room they needed in the third and deciding set. After trading points over the next passage, King fought back to cut the deficit to 16-14 with a 5-0 run, but an 8-1 spurt fueled by two kills from Gill and two aces by Whiteaker forced match point for the Lady Railsplitters. Gill clinched it two rallies later with a kill.