CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After five days away from competition, the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team was more than rested up.
 
The Railsplitters' 3-0, 25-14, 25-13, 25-9, sweep for their fourth of the season was never close inside Levine Center Saturday afternoon in the Independent Volleyball Association matchup versus Queens. LMU (5-2, 1-0 IVA) led the Royals in every statistical category, notably: kills (40 to 13), hitting percentage (0.363 to -0.156), assists (35 to 13) and blocks (14.5 to 7).
 
Jordan Walley's season-high 13 kills and 15 points headlined the Railsplitters' top leaders, while Evan Cory and Pedro Carvalho had nine and 10 total blocks, respectively. AJ Risavy carried LMU from an assist standpoint once again, passing across 24 and even freshman Ryan Foy got in on some fun with six assists in two sets. Danny Hermida had seven digs while Risavy and Andres Delgado each had six apiece.
 
For Queens (1-6, 0-1), Nic Cavallaro tallied five kills and six digs to lead the Royals along with Hunter Gray's 12 assists and Cody Nix's four total blocks.
 
In the first set, the Railsplitters led 10-3 and never looked back. One of Cory's match-high three service ace propelled LMU to the double-digit advantage, forcing a Queens' timeout but the brief break didn't help the Royals as they signaled for another down, 13-7. LMU kept pressing the pedal, hitting .300 percentage compared to the Royals' -.0125 to take the seven-point lead and then using a 6-2 spurt to cap off the set one victory.
 
The Railsplitters didn't cool down in the second set, jumping out to an 11-3 lead after Dawson Walker and Risvay combined for a block to prompt a Royals' timeout. It was another seven-point run, which pushed the Railsplitters to 10 straight points, that LMU used to cushion its already comfortable lead to 17-3. The Railsplitters' fiery force from behind the net continued as they compiled yet another high hitting percentage — this time .455 while the Royals' was in the negative again (-0.115). LMU's Walley used one of his match-high kills via the assist from Foy to finish the set-two dominance for a 2-0 match lead.
 
In the third and final set, it was a different set but the same story. Queens kept it close early, however, LMU used a 4-0 spurt followed by an 8-1 run to take another dominating lead, 19-8. From there, the Railsplitters took advantage of yet another negative-hitting set while using another .300-plus one on their side to secure the sweep and allow a season-low nine points.
 
Next up
The Railsplitters have another week off before their next match, where LMU will travel to Ohio State for a battle with the Buckeyes at 8 p.m. Saturday.