HARROGATE, Tenn. — Sarah Jones technically wasn't in the right spot, but the Lady Railsplitter was at the right time.
 
The sophomore dove for an almost Queens University of Charlotte point, hitting it upward and over the net as it fell for the game-winning point to lift Lincoln Memorial University over South Atlantic Conference foe Queens, 25-13, 25-18, 22-25, 22-25, inside Mary Mars Gym.
 
"She was a little bit out of position, which we discussed following the play, but she made up for that by a tremendous individual, athletic play," LMU women's volleyball head coach Jenny Michael said. "She got the touch. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. In that case, luck was on her side and the ball fell in to close out the match."
 
It was the Lady Railsplitters' first conference match and the home squad won it in convincing fashion.
 
The Lady Railsplitters were led by a strong defensive effort, which is what Michael was hoping would happen after losing consecutive matches last weekend in Greenville, Tenn.
 
Libero Erica Whiteaker paced LMU with 35 digs, while Emily Walter had 12 and Jones followed with 10. Tone Gill created a strong wall on the net as the middle hitter batted down nine blocks, while Rylee Storms teamed up with seven and Kai Wesemann had five.
 
Walter led the Lady Railsplitters with four aces, and Gill smacked down a team-leading 11 kills while Storms and Emma Flowers were right behind with 10 apiece.
 
LMU (5-2, 1-0 SAC) won back-to-back sets to start in front of the Railsplitter faithful that filled the bleachers from top to bottom.
 
It was in the third set that Queens (5-5, 1-2) stole a set, winning 25-22, but it didn't alter the home Lady Railsplitters' end goal.
 
"This is an amazing sport because there is no carry over as far as the score," Michael said. "You can whoop a team and it doesn't matter because you still have to win three sets. The first two were completely thrown out the window. It didn't matter to Queens. It didn't matter to us, and then Queens came out and was the better team in that third set.
 
"We weren't executing; we were making a ton of unforced errors. We were able to bounce back, though, in that fourth set and get a nice lead. Queens was kind of inching their way back into it, but we were able to close it out with some defensive plays, which is what we really needed to improve on."
 
The Lady Railsplitters came back together in the fourth set, regrouping each time the Royals came close to taking the lead. LMU picked up its hitting percentage after hitting just .047 in the third set with a .216 average in the fourth, final set.
 
The Royals hit just .050 in the final set, for a match .094 hitting percentage compared to the Lady Railsplitters' .217.
 
"There are no easy nights. There are no off nights in this conference, top to bottom," Michael said. "Preseason rankings don't matter because everybody is going to bring their A-game against one another. To be able to play at home, that definitely helped.
 
"We had an awesome crowd. The Mars' maniacs were in full effect and really helped us out, especially when we had a few down times when we were struggling a little bit to sync up and be in rhythm. It's always awesome to be able to play at home."