HARROGATE, Tenn. – A total of five Lincoln Memorial University athletic programs are in action this week as the women's soccer team competes for the Railsplitters' first championship of 2019-20 at the South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament. Lady Railsplitter hoops kicks off their 2019-20 campaign Wednesday evening inside Tex Turner Arena, while men's basketball continues non-conference action Saturday afternoon in Harrogate, women's volleyball wraps up its regular season on the road in North Carolina and women's bowling returns to tournament competition, also in the Tar Heel State.
 
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.
 
Women's Basketball
The 107th year – and 76th season – of LMU women's basketball tips off this Wednesday as the Lady Railsplitters host Belmont Abbey Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. inside Tex Turner Arena. Eight players return from last season's squad, which reached the SAC Tournament semifinals. Leading the way is redshirt sophomore guard/forward Sydney Newsome, who averaged 7.7 points and 4.8 rebounds last season. Joining her is sophomore guard Lindsay Proffitt, who led the SAC in three-point shooting last year and also earned a spot on the SAC All-Freshman squad. She averaged 7.3 points and 2.1 rebounds a game. Another key returner is junior forward Maggie Jachimczuk, who averaged 6.0 points and 5.1 rebounds a game in 2018-19. The team posted a 16-14 record last season while going 10-10 in SAC play.
 
Belmont Abbey enters the contest with a 1-1 record after opening its season in the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge in Bristol, Tennessee, this past weekend. The Crusaders fell to Tusculum by a hard-fought 55-46 margin Friday evening before blasting Mars Hill 86-39 on Saturday. Belmont Abbey went 21-10 last season before ending the 2018-19 campaign with a loss in the Conference Carolinas Tournament championship game. Currently, three Crusaders are averaging double-digit scoring, led by Allie Downing's 14.5 points a game. She also leads the team in rebounding with 8.0 a game. Brittany Autry came off the bench in both games to post a 12.0 per game scoring average, while Keyanna Spivey is averaging 10.5 points and 6.0 rebounds a game.
 
Following Wednesday's game, LMU is off for a week before travelling to face King University next Wednesday, Nov. 20.
 
Women's Bowling
Coming off a third-place showing at the 2019 Warhawk Classic in Madison, Wisconsin, this past weekend, where they posted an 8-5 record and finished ahead of 10th-ranked and tournament host the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the 13th-ranked Lady Railsplitters continue their three-tournament November this weekend. LMU will head to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the Vernell Stallings Women's Bowling Invitational, hosted by North Carolina A&T and held this Friday-Sunday at the AMF All Star Lanes.
 
The event is in its first year and will feature a total of seven nationally-ranked programs, including tournament host and eighth-ranked North Carolina A&T, No. 7 Maryland-Eastern Shore, the 13th-ranked Lady Railsplitters, No. 15 Delaware State, 17th-ranked Louisiana Tech, No. 19 UAB and 21st-ranked Mount Saint Mary's. Also competing in the 12-team field will be Coppin State, Howard, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern and fellow East Coast Conference member Tusculum.
 
Women's Soccer
The LMU women's soccer team is back in the same position it was last year. Heading to the SAC Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive season, the Lady Railsplitters (14-4) will face No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne (15-2) at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Matthews, North Carolina. In the team's first meeting this year, LMU took down the then unbeaten and 11th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne in a 1-nil victory, which was the Bears' first loss and the Lady Railsplitters' biggest regular-season SAC win.
 
The victory featured one of Thenia Zervas' 16 assists on the season and Mariana Diaz' lone goal, which proved enough to take down Lenoir-Rhyne. The Lady Railsplitters now aim to do it twice this season in the duo's 19th overall meeting. A win would hand LMU its fourth straight over the Bears and a SAC Tournament championship berth (Sunday at 4 p.m.) for the second-straight year, plus put the Lady Railsplitters in position for a potential top-6 regional seed.
 
Women's Volleyball
Another weekend, another pair of SAC victories for the LMU women's volleyball team. The Lady Railsplitters (10-17, 9-11 SAC) closed out the home portion of their 2019 schedule this past weekend with a straight-set senior night win over Lenoir-Rhyne and a 3-1 triumph against regionally-Ranked Mars Hill. For her performance over the weekend, sophomore setter Emily Walter was tabbed SAC Specialist of the Week, her second-straight conference specialist of the week honor and third of the fall.
 
This weekend, LMU finishes up the regular season in North Carolina riding a four-match win streak. Friday, the Lady Railsplitters travel to Salisbury for a 7 p.m. tilt at Catawba before heading to Charlotte where they will face Queens Saturday at 2 p.m. Currently in eighth place in the league standings with a 9-11 SAC record, LMU has already clinched a spot in next week's onference tournament but could help its cause for a top-seven seed with a pair of wins this weekend. The Lady Railsplitters sit just one match behind both Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum (10-10 SAC) and two matches behind fifth-place Mars Hill (11-9 SAC).
 
Owning a 19-12 all-time record against the Indians, LMU defeated Catawba in five sets on Oct. 4 inside Mary Mars Gym and has won five-straight in the series dating back to 2016. The Lady Railsplitters are 7-6 versus the Indians in Salisbury, North Carolina, where they picked up a straight-set win a year ago.
 
Holding a 10-8 overall advantage in its matchups with the Royals, LMU looks to avenge a 3-1 home loss to Queens on Oct. 5. Prior to their setback in early October the Lady Railsplitters had defeated the Royals in three-straight meetings, including a four-set victory in Charlotte last fall.
 
Men's Basketball
Railsplitter hoops, who entered 2019-20 with the sixth-highest home court winning percentage (.925) in all of college basketball over the last 10 years, opened up play inside Tex Turner Arena over the weekend with a pair of wins as part of the 2019 SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge. LMU earned a 32-point, 87-55 triumph over Clayton State Friday night in its home opener before picking up a gritty 83-72 win Saturday against receiving votes USC Aiken.
 
Sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley was outstanding in the two victories, averaging 27.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals while shooting 11-of-19 (.579) from the field, going 9-for-10 at the free-throw line and making 5-of-11 from long range. He poured in a career-best 36 points against the Pacers of USC Aiken, scoring 13 of the Railsplitters' final 16 points of the game.
 
This Saturday, LMU hosts Christian Brothers for a matinee matchup inside Tex Turner Arena at 2 p.m. With the game sponsored by Tazewell Drug and Express Care, Saturday's affair will provide the Railsplitters with their fourth opponent who is receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Preseason Top 25.
 
LMU and Christian Brothers have met just three other times on the hardwood with the Bucs owning a 2-1 advantage in the series. A season ago, the Railsplitters were bested 81-75 in Memphis as the two teams saw each other for the first time since 1977 when LMU got its lone victory over Christian Brothers (83-61) in Harrogate. In 1970, the Bucs won a 79-69 neutral-site affair in the Music City.
 
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.