ANDERSON, S.C. – The Lady Railsplitters were unable to contain the red-hot Anderson Trojans in a 3-0 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Abney Center. Lincoln Memorial (7-3, 3-1 SAC) fell by scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-21 to suffer its first South Atlantic Conference loss and see its three-match winning streak snapped, while the Trojans (15-1, 6-0 SAC) cruised to their 11th straight win and remained undefeated in SAC play.
With top offensive weapon
Emma Flowers sidelined, the Lady Railsplitters struggled offensively, accounting for just 30 kills on a .152 attack percentage. On the other end of the spectrum, Anderson thrived and amassed 49 kills on a sizzling .305 hitting percentage. Lincoln Memorial finished with only one block in the match.
The loss was Lincoln Memorial's third straight to the defending SAC regular-season champion Trojans, who improved to 8-15 in the all-time series with the victory.
Starting in place of the injured Flowers,
Kai Wesemann led the Lady Railsplitter attack with seven kills, while
Rylee Storms pitched in six kills.
Lindsey Nartker added five kills, but Wesemann (.115) was the only member of that trio to post an attack percentage over .100.
Danielle Ged,
Tone Gill and
Alicia Kessler added three kills apiece.
Emily Walter had a team-best 21 assists, while
Erica Whiteaker led the way with 20 digs.
Anderson was powered by stellar performances from Jayln Knight and Regan Duty, who combined for 26 kills and only four attack errors. Knight led all players with 16 while Duty posted 10. Hannah Worsham and Hailee Wilhelm accounted for eight kills apiece with only three errors between them. Emily Conlin had a match-high 37 assists while also leading the team with 15 digs.
The Trojans were at their best offensively in the opening set, connecting on 13 kills without committing an error to produce a .448 attack percentage. By contrast, the Lady Railsplitters managed just nine kills on a .091 clip. LMU was down by only a point early, but a 9-0 run gave Anderson a comfortable 15-5 advantage. The Lady Railsplitters whittled the deficit down to 21-15 on a kill by Storms, but it was too late to mount a real comeback. Back-to-back kills completed Anderson's 25-15 win and capped a 4-0 closing run.
The Trojans were less efficient in set two, but still accumulated 17 kills in the frame to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Despite those numbers, Lincoln Memorial kept it close, as neither team led by more than two points until an attack error gave Anderson a 13-10 cushion. Another miscue helped the Trojans extend their lead to 20-15, but the Lady Railsplitters pulled within two points three times over the next passage of play, and eventually made it a 23-22 set with a kill by Storms. However, Anderson thwarted any comeback bid by closing the set with an LMU attack error and a kill by Duty.
Anderson set the pace again in set three, racing out to a 4-0 lead before extending their cushion to 11-6 on a kill by Wilhelm. Two kills from Knight and another by Worsham kept the Trojans securely in front 16-10 and the home team looked primed to cruise to the finish line. However, a 5-0 run helped the Lady Railsplitters close the gap to 21-20 late. Yet Anderson stayed composed and ended the frame with a 4-1 flurry to wrap up the straight-set win. Knight ended things with her 16th kill of the match.
The Lady Railsplitters return to Mary Mars Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 25 to host Catawba in South Atlantic Conference action at 7 p.m.
