HARROGATE, Tenn. – A total of seven Lincoln Memorial University athletic programs are in action this week with all five fall sports competing and men's and women's cross country running for the Railsplitters' first championships of 2019-20. Men's and women's soccer, along with women's volleyball continue their South Atlantic Conference schedules, while men's golf and men's bowling return to fall tournament play. Men's and women's cross country take aim at the 2019 SAC Championships in North Carolina.
 
Throughout 2019-20, LMU athletics will provide a look ahead at the week's calendar of athletic events, both home and away, previewing each team's competition/s and highlighting team's news, notes, performances and more.
 
Men's Golf
Carrying consecutive top-three finishes into its next-to-last fall tournament, the LMU men's golf team is poised for 54 more holes at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Despite a first-place finish at its home State Farm Intercollegiate followed by a third-place showing at the highly-competitive Copperhead Championship last weekend, the Railsplitters dropped two spots to No. 16 in the most recent Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll released this past Friday.
 
The other pair of ranked teams accompanying LMU this week will be No. 3 Georgia Southwestern and fifth-ranked USC Aiken, while fellow conference teams host Queens, Coker, Newberry, Mars Hill, Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate and Carson-Newman will all be in attendance at The Club at Irish Creek. North Georgia, King, Limestone, Lander, Young Harris, Belmont Abbey and Barton College complete the 18-team field.
 
The same starting five – juniors Dan Bradbury and Luke Harries, freshman Erik Fogel, senior Harry Boyle and sophomore Hamish McColm – will hit the links beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday for 36 holes of play, before wrapping up the Queens Invitational with the final 18 holes Tuesday. Featuring a shotgun start Monday, the tournament's live scoring can be followed here or by clicking on the link at the top of the page.
 
Women's Volleyball
The Lady Railsplitters split a pair of matches over thee weekend as they returned to SAC play and returned home for a five-match homestand. After enduring a straight-set loss at the hands of 22nd-ranked ranked Wingate Friday night inside Mary Mars Gymnasium, LMU earned its third straight-set win of the season Saturday afternoon by defeating Coker 3-0. Completing the season sweep of the visiting Cobras, the Lady Railsplitters cruised to a 25-8 opening set before earning two 25-23 set victories.
 
For the first time of 2019, LMU will host a midweek match with Carson-Newman visiting Harrogate Tuesday for a 7 p.m. first serve. The Eagles handed the Lady Railsplitters a straight-set defeat back on Sept. 24 in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and are riding a seven-match win streak after upsetting No. 22 Wingate, 3-1, Saturday afternoon. During its current stretch, Carson-Newman has given up just three sets and claimed four, 3-0 wins. However, Tuesday night's affair will be the Eagles' first road test of October.
 
LMU owns a significant 39-20 lead in the all-time series with Carson-Newman but has gone 2-2 against the Eagles in the two teams' previous four meetings. Despite owning a 20-8 record versus Carson-Newman in Mary Mars Gym, the Lady Railsplitters have split their last two home matchups with the Eagles.
 
On Friday, LMU will continue its homestand by taking on Newberry at 7 p.m. Back on Sept. 20, the Lady Railsplitters dropped a 15-10 fifth set against the Wolves in South Carolina. Entering the week, Newberry has lost six straight and nine of its last 10. LMU is 21-10 all-time against the Wolves and owns a 9-4 record in the series' home affairs. Prior to their September loss, the Lady Railsplitters had won three straight against Newberry.
 
Anderson will come to town Saturday at 2 p.m., wrapping up LMU's five-match home stretch. The Trojans barely eked by the Lady Railsplitters in Anderson, South Carolina, back on Sept. 21, winning a 16-14 fifth set after LMU led 2-1 and had three match points. Anderson has lost just once since its home bout with the Lady Railsplitters and enters the week having won three consecutive and 13 of its last 14.
 
LMU holds a 16-10 advantage in the all-time series with the Trojans and is 8-3 at home. However, the Lady Railsplitters have come out victorious against Anderson just once since 2016, defeating the Trojans in five sets in the 2018 SAC Tournament semifinals in Hartsville, South Carolina. Prior to that win, LMU had lost four straight to Anderson.
 
The Lady Railsplitters are 3-5 in home matches this season.
 
Women's Soccer
Winning one of two SAC matches last week, the LMU women's soccer team gears up for its final non-conference game Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Salem University, before ending the week with a 1 p.m. home league contest Saturday against Newberry at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
The Lady Railsplitters (9-4, 3-4) wrap up a three-match road stretch against a Tigers team who has won just one match this season. Salem (1-10) has scored just two goals over 11 matches as LMU preps for its third overall meeting with the Tigers. Defeating Salem 1-nil last season, the Lady Railsplitters look to add onto that victory and keep the clean sheet going since also taking down Salem, 7-0, in 2006.
 
Including the tilt against Newberry (5-4-3, 3-4-1), LMU, who is currently tied for seventh with Queens, has three SAC matches left to figure out its SAC Tournament fate. The Wolves are one spot above the Lady Railsplitters in the league standings and are coming into the matchup with back-to-back conference wins as LMU looks to end that winning streak with its third-straight victory over Newberry. It'll be the 16th all-time meeting between the pair of SAC opponents, where the Lady Railsplitters hold an 8-6-2 advantage after the past two matchups.
 
Men's and Women's Cross Country
The men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the 2019 SAC Championships at the Wingate Cross Country Facility in Wingate, North Carolina, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
 
Senior Sam Lloyd-Perks and junior Michael Jakubek have been pacing the men's team all season, logging top-10 finishes in three of the four meets LMU has competed in. The duo will again be leading the pack for the Railsplitters.
 
"Sam and Mike will be gunning for top-10 finishes and a shot at first-team all-conference with a finish in the top 14," said head coach Jeremy Donahue. "They have been aggressive all season and we are working on how best to get them there."
 
In the team competition, Queens is the team to beat with Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne and Anderson in the mix. Donahue is looking to move up in the team standings after finishing fourth last year.
 
"After Queens, there are a number of teams that could fall into the top six," stated Donahue. "I would like to see us duplicate last year's result or move up. We will have to be on our 'A' game to crack the top four."
 
Following Lloyd-Perks and Jakubek in the pack are freshmen Mason Johns, senior Harrison Calhoun, junior Daniel Johnson, sophomore Micah Moss and freshman Jacey Grabeel.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will be looking to improve on last season's eighth-place finish. Sophomore Kiley Holmes will be the pacesetter for LMU in the absence of injured Tabea Kandlbauer.
 
"Kiley has been our leader all season," said Donahue. "The pack has been running well and our strength is in the pack. I want to see it move up this week."
 
Sophomores Maria Chellah, Brooke Foster and Unique Earley, junior Chloe Harp and freshmen McKenna Korody and Ashlyn Johnson have all run as a group in the four tune-up meets.
 
"Maria, Brooke and Chloe are all in range of Kiley," noted Donahue. "Kiley gets out strong early and I look for the pack to stay in range."
 
The women's team competition will be a three-way battle with Queens, Wingate and Anderson.
 
"We are still a young team and I want to see us improve upon last year's eighth-place finish," Donahue added.
 
Men's Bowling
The LMU men's bowling crew will be hitting the lanes again this weekend and are coming off a team victory at the Orange and Black Classic hosted by University of Pikeville two weeks ago (Oct. 12-13). The Railsplitters finished the second day of play Sunday with a 3-2 triumph over Lawrence Tech in the championship match. 
 
Staying in the Volunteer State, LMU will be traveling to Smyrna, Tennessee, for the two-day Smyrna Classic held at the Smyrna Bowling Center Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26-27.
 
Men's Soccer
The Railsplitters (4-6-3, 3-3-1) started off last week on the road with a conference tilt at Tusculum University Wednesday evening. Senior forward Ueslei Silva took a strike from outside the 18-yard box to find the back of the net in the closing minutes of the first half. Freshman midfielder Kasimir Lauber was then able to put the game to a close with a goal in the 69th minute for a 2-1 LMU victory.
 
Concluding their week, the Railsplitters traveled to Anderson for another SAC road contest Saturday afternoon. LMU trailed for approximately 45 minutes until junior defender Tom O'Brien chipped in a goal off a cross from Lauber to tie the game 1-1 in the 82nd minute. One minute later, the Trojans headed a goal to regain the lead, handing the Railsplitters a 2-1 setback.
 
The Blue and Gray will have the week off from competition until Saturday, Oct. 26 when LMU hosts Newberry at the LMU Soccer Complex at 3:30 p.m. The Railsplitters currently hold a 10-0-2 all-time record against the Wolves and are a perfect 6-0 versus Newberry in Harrogate. Last year's matchup in South Carolina ended in a 0-0 draw after LMU posted six goals in a shutout at the LMU Soccer Complex in 2017.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter and Lady Railsplitter athletics throughout 2019-20.