SALISBURY, N.C. – Earning its sixth straight-set victory of 2019, the Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team extended its win streak to five with a 3-0 triumph at Catawba Friday night inside Goodman Gymnasium in Salisbury, North Carolina. The Lady Railsplitters (11-17, 10-11) claimed their fourth South Atlantic Conference series sweep of the season as LMU attacked at a .241 clip across the three sets and made 49 kills on the night.
 
Limiting the host Indians (7-18, 5-16) to a .124 attack percentage, the Lady Railsplitters racked up no fewer than 14 kills in each set and hit above a .300 mark in the opening two stanzas. Freshman outside hitter Emma Winford totaled a career-high 14 kills and added 13 digs, while junior middle hitter Yileen Ng He (11) and senior right side hitter Rylee Storms (10) also reached double-figure kills.
 
Catawba rushed out to leads of 6-3 and 9-4 in the first set before LMU slowly worked its way back behind an impressive .340 hitting percentage. Trailing 12-7, the Lady Railsplitters made a 6-1 run to knot the set up at 13-all on a Winford kill. Minutes later, a Ng He kill followed by back-to-back kills from Winford gave LMU an 18-15 advantage. Tied up once again at 22-22, freshman middle hitter Kaley Long rose up for a pair of kills to give Lady Railsplitters two set points. Fittingly, Winford would claim her ninth kill of the night to seal the opening set, 25-23.
 
A trio of kills by Ng He and Winford put LMU ahead 4-1 in the second set and the visiting team took an 8-2 lead on a 4-0 run moments later. The Lady Railsplitters would remain in control for the majority of the set and led the rest of the way, making it 11-5 on a Ng He service ace and going up by 10 at 20-10 with a 6-0 run capped by Storms and Ng He kills. The two squads split the final 10 points of the set but another Ng He kill and a kill from Long secured the set at 25-15 to give LMU a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
After being down 4-2 very early in the third set, a pair of Storms kills put the Lady Railsplitters in front, 6-4. LMU continued to hold onto a slight advantage most of the way as the Indians led by no more than two until the set became deadlocked at 16 apiece. Responding to a pair of Catawba points that put the home team ahead 18-16, the Lady Railsplitters strung together a trio of points before taking a 20-19 lead on a Ng He kill. A kill from senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker evened up the set at 22-all as both squads continued to trade punches.
 
The Indians held set point at 24-23 when Jade Brooks made a kill, however, LMU calmly saved the set with a Winford kill. The Lady Railsplitters got their first match point at 26-25 on a Catawba attack error before Ng He gave LMU a second match point at 27-26 with a kill. This time, Nartker rose to the occasion, laying down a kill to clinch the match with a gritty 28-26 set three win.
 
Nartker provided eight kills and two blocks in the match as Ng He posted three blocks of her own and sophomore setter Emily Walter handed out a match-high 40 assists to go along with 13 digs. Storms served up two aces and junior libero Sarah Jones tied for a match-best 16 digs.
 
The Indians were led by Clair Kellum's 10 kills, Jade Brooks' seven kills, two aces and 14 digs, Morgan Hester's 30 assists and 14 digs, and Malia Carr's match-high tying 16 digs.
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters wrap up the regular season Saturday afternoon at Queens in Charlotte, North Carolina. First serve from inside the Levine Center is slated for 2 p.m. LMU is vying for a No. 5 seed in next week's SAC Tournament but could finish anywhere from No. 5-8 in the final league standings following Saturday's results around the conference.

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.