HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial men's volleyball team hit a sizzling .338 and held the visiting Campbellsville Tigers to a .039 clip to open the 2019 campaign with a dominant 25-22, 25-15, 25-15 win on Friday night inside of Mary Mars Gymnasium. 
 
Junior right side Evan Cory led the way for Lincoln Memorial (1-0), racking up 13 kills on a .500 attack percentage while accumulating a three-set program-record five aces. Danny Hermida added seven kills on a .500 clip in his LMU debut, while Logan Kerley and Pedro Carvalho had four kills apiece. Carvalho paced all players with five blocks, while Dawson Walker had three kills and three blocks. 
 
AJ Risavy had 28 assists, three digs and two blocks, while Andres Delgado led LMU with eight digs in his collegiate debut. 
 
Rafael Cruz paced Campbellsville (0-1) offensively with seven kills, though he also led the team with eight errors. Max Stotridge produced six kills with seven errors, while Jose Camacho and Nils Kleinschmidt had four kills apiece. 
 
Powered by a .423 attack percentage and a 5-0 closing run, the Railsplitters rallied back from a late 22-20 deficit to steal a 25-22 victory in the first set of the 2019 campaign. The frame featured a combined 14 ties and five lead changes. Lincoln Memorial was nursing an 18-16 lead until Campbellsville used a 5-1 spurt to take a 21-19 lead. A kill from Cory closed the gap to 21-20, but the Tigers responded with a kill of their own to push the lead back to two. However, a Campbellsville service error on the next rally turned the tide of the set, kicking off a 5-0 final run for the Railsplitters. Hermida finished off the set and the 25-22 win with a kill. 
 
While the Railsplitters needed a late run to snag a set-one win, they pulled away from the Tigers right from the jump in set two. A 5-0 run made it 5-1, while a 7-0 run powered by five aces from Cory extended the lead to 13-5. Campbellsville made a bit of a push after that, cutting the deficit to 14-9, but LMU won eight of the next nine rallies to pull ahead 22-10. Kerley closed out the dominant 25-15 win with a kill. 
 
Lincoln Memorial kept up the pace offensively in set three, wrapping up the 3-0 win with a .381 attack percentage. The Railsplitters never trailed and took complete control with a 5-0 run fueled by back-to-back kills by Walker. After a Campbellsville kill closed the gap to 14-8, kills from Cory and Risavy extended the LMU lead to 17-8. The Railsplitters never led by less than six after that, while the home team ended the set and match with four unanswered points. 
 
Quick Hits 
 
- The Railsplitters improve to 18-6 all-time at Mary Mars Gymnasium with the victory. Lincoln Memorial has won 10 of its last 11 at home dating back to the start of the 2018 campaign. 
 
- Lincoln Memorial piled up 10 aces total. Hermida added four to Cory's five, while Kerley accounted for the team's only other ace. 
 
Up Next 
 
The Railsplitters host Belmont Abbey at Mars Gym at 2 p.m. on Saturday.