HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team hit at clips over .300 in both the opening and fourth sets, but it wasn't enough to top Newberry College Friday night inside Mary Mars Gymnasium. The visiting Wolves (5-15, 3-12) took a two-set lead after 25-22 and 25-11 set wins, before the host Lady Railsplitters (6-15, 5-9) earned the third stanza, 25-15. A fast start to the fourth by Newberry led to a 25-18 triumph as the Wolves snapped a seven-match slide with a 3-1 victory.
 
"Tonight came down to one major area of our sport, the serve, serve/receive battle," head coach Jenny Michael commented after the match. "We absolutely got outplayed in that area. We were plus-zero points and minus-10 in the first set, meaning we earned zero points with aces and we were minus-10 in between our service errors and reception errors. We lost that set by three. In the fourth set, we were plus-zero, minus-eight in the same categories. We lost that set by seven. Overall for the match, we were plus-three and minus-29. That's really bad."
 
Despite attacking at a .250 mark for the four sets and collecting 42 kills, LMU was aced 16 times while only making three of its own. Newberry also posted 10 blocks, compared to the Lady Railsplitters' five, and totaled 43 kills off a .208 hitting mark.
 
"In the first set offensively we hit .308 and we had 15 kills, that's really good for our offense," continued coach Michael. "In the fourth set we hit .357 with 12 kills, that's really good offense, but we're just not giving our offense enough opportunities to earn more points when we're losing the serve, serve/receive battle that badly."
 
After the Wolves grabbed a 9-5 lead early in the first set, the Lady Railsplitters fought their way back to get within one multiple times before tying things up at 18 with a block by sophomore setter Emily Walter and junior middle hitter Yileen Ng He. Moments later, back-to-back kills from Ng He kill and freshman outside hitter Cate Hosenfeld gave the home team a 20-19 advantage. However, it would be the last of the set as Newberry won the following four points and the final two of the set with a 23-22 lead.
 
A Hosenfeld service ace put LMU ahead 3-1 in the second set and a kill from senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker, coupled with a Wolves ball handling error, made it 5-2. From there, Newberry would go on a 16-2 run and cruise to a 14-point set win.
 
The Lady Railsplitters would not be denied in the third set, racing out to a 10-1 lead capped by a pair of Nartker service aces. A strong, six-point LMU run gave the home team a commanding 19-7 advantage before the Wolves got within nine twice at 20-11 and 24-15. Walter then rose up for a kill to end the set and make it a 2-1 match.
 
A sluggish start by the Lady Railsplitters in the fourth allowed Newberry to go in front 10-4. LMU could not put consecutive points together before finding itself down 18-11 and the Wolves would not loosen their grip. A Newberry ball handling error and a kill by senior right side hitter Rylee Storms got the Lady Railsplitters within five at 18-13, but that would be as close as LMU would get. Trailing 21-13, the Lady Railsplitters won five of the next nine points but it wasn't nearly enough.
 
"Right now the focus is on us and improving the serve, serve/receive game," Michael added about looking towards Saturday's match. "The hierarchy of volleyball gurus have studied our sport and were able to quantify that 80 percent of the time, the team that wins the serve, serve/receive battle will be victorious. That has to be our focus. I'm not a gambling person but I like that percentage."
 
Ng He led the way for LMU, finishing with a season-high tying 13 kills and five total blocks. Hosenfeld and Nartker both added eight kills and nine digs apiece, while Walter made a match-best 30 assists to go along with three blocks, eight digs and five kills. Junior libero Sarah Jones had nine digs as well.
 
The Wolves were led by Toni-Anne Whitlow's 13 kills as Kylee Kanealey recorded 12 and made five total blocks. Zoe Dinkins rose up for a match-high 10 total blocks for Newberry and Sydney Diaz collected 17 digs with Olivia Kozemko handing out 20 assists.
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters wrap up their five-match homestand Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. tilt against Anderson. Next week, LMU travels to Mars Hill, North Carolina, for a 7 p.m. first serve Tuesday, Oct. 29, before taking on Tusculum Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in Greeneville, Tennessee. Next Saturday, Nov. 2, the Lady Railsplitters host UVa-Wise for a 2 p.m. match.

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 Lady Railsplitter volleyball throughout the 2019 season.