HARROGATE, Tenn. – Visiting Queens University of Charlotte attacked at a clip over .350 in tightly-contested third and fourth sets to break a 1-1 tie and earn a 3-1 South Atlantic Conference road victory over host Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball Saturday afternoon inside Mary Mars Gymnasium. The Lady Railsplitters (4-9, 4-6 SAC) were unable to overcome the Royals' .280 hitting percentage for the match and 59 kills, while attacking at a mark of .175 and recording 48 kills across the four sets.
 
Queens (10-3, 7-2 SAC) used a dominant opening set (25-14), one in which it held LMU to a -.027 attack percentage, and claimed hard-fought 25-22 and 25-23 third and fourth sets, respectively, after the Lady Railsplitters knotted up the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 set two win.
 
The visitors raced out to a 10-4 lead in the first set before LMU got within striking distance at 14-11 thanks to a pair of kills from freshman middle hitter Kaley Long and senior right side hitter Rylee Storms and a Royal attack error. Queens would cruise for the rest of the way, ending the set on a six-point run.
 
Rebounding from the opening set, the Lady Railsplitters hit .184 in the second stanza and accumulated 15 kills. Another strong start by the Royals put Queens ahead 8-4 before LMU worked its way back. Down five at 12-7, LMU won six-straight points to force a Royal timeout as a kill from senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker gave the Lady Railsplitters a 14-12 lead. LMU would go in front 18-15 on a service ace by junior middle hitter Yileen Ng He and held a four-point advantage at 21-17 and 22-18 thanks to Queens attack errors. Kills from Storms, sophomore setter Emily Walter and Ng He got the Lady Railsplitters' their 23rd, 24th and 25th points of the set, evening up the match with the second set triumph.
 
Trailing 12-8 in the third set, LMU once again climbed its way back and evened things up at 17 apiece after back-to-back kills from Ng He and Nartker. Another Nartker kill followed by an ace put the home team ahead 19-18 and a Ng He kill moments later gave the Lady Railsplitters a 20-19 lead. However, it would be LMU's last lead in the set as the Royals won six of the next eight points to win the set and go up 2-1 in the match.
 
A four-point Lady Railsplitter run put LMU in front 7-4 in the fourth set before a Nartker kill made it 10-7. The Lady Railsplitters held a two-point advantage three times before a trio of consecutive points by Queens allowed the Royals to take a 15-14 lead. Despite tying things up at 15, 16 and 21-all, LMU was unable to retake the lead. Down by two at 23-21, a Royal service error got the Lady Railsplitters within one and moments later a kill from freshman outside hitter Cate Hosenfeld cut another two-point Queens advantage in half to 24-23. However, the Royals' Logan Witt connected on a kill to clinch the match for the visitors.
 
Walter notched her third-straight 40-assist match with 41 helpers as Nartker provided a team-high 12 kills and Long a career-best 10 kills. Hosenfeld added eight kills with Storms and Long both making three blocks. Nartker registered her second consecutive double-double and third of 2019 with 14 digs, while junior libero Jones also tallied 14 digs and Walter 12.
 
Witt led all offensive performers with 20 kills for Queens and Casey Tarvin and Chanel Turner posted 14 and 12 kills, respectively. The Royals' Lindsay Elmore rose up for a match-high seven blocks as Witt and Mallory Swarts claimed four apiece. Swarts also had a match-best 52 assists to go along with a pair of aces, while Tarvin (18), Jaycee Jones (16) and Turner (12) each reached double-digit digs.  
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters will have a week off from competition before returning to game action next weekend in nearby Jefferson City, Tennessee, for the SAC/Peach Belt Conference Challenge. LMU will take on four Peach Belt Conference opponents inside Carson-Newman University's Holt Fieldhouse, playing USC Aiken and Georgia College Friday, Oct. 11 before facing Lander and Augusta University Saturday, Oct. 12.

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.