HARROGATE, Tenn. — The momentum started Saturday when the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team defeated its first-ever Division I opponent in Quincy University, and it hasn't stopped yet.
 
On Tuesday night in the Railsplitters' final regular-season home match, they picked up another first: a victory over in-state rival King University.  Not only was it the Railsplitters' first win in six tries (1-5) over the Tornado, but it was statement setter as LMU took King down in straight sets, 25-15, 26-24, 25-23, for the 3-0 sweep to stay undefeated (10-0) inside Mary Mars Gym.
 
"Get the monkey off the back — that was a big deal," said LMU head coach John Cash of breaking the winless streak. "Ryan Booher is a great coach and he has great guys.  They are tough players and a NCAA Tournament qualifier last year. That's a legit team. We know that.
 
"To know that we are growing, getting into the right place to be able to compete at a high level with these guys and getting our first victory over a Division I team on Saturday, that's a big deal. We are definitely moving in a better direction now, trying to get guys healthy and feel really good about our push here towards the end of the year. We are starting to get going at the right time."
 
A season-high 14 kills and 14.5 points plus seven digs from Logan Kerley paced LMU, while Evan Cory followed with the same number of kills (14), eight digs and a team-high seven blocks and 18.5 points. Jordan Walley chipped in eight kills and a match-tying nine digs as AJ Risavy passed across a match-high 40 assists, along with his six digs and a clutch no-look kill in a big moment for the Railsplitters in the third set. LMU also had four service aces — one by Cory, Pedro Carvalho, Dawson Walker and Johansen Negron — to King's zero.
 
Sean Kohlhase paced the Tornado (12-9) with his 11 kills for 11 points, while Joshua Kim had seven kills, six digs and four blocks to equal nine points, and Dalton Johnson added four kills and the same number of blocks. Chandler Christy led King with 23 assists and his nine digs.
 
The Railsplitters (13-7) were ready for this one. After the Tornado scored the first point, LMU raced out on an 11-2 run — with the help six errors and two Walker kills — in the opening set and never looked back. King called a timeout to try and stop the bleeding, but the Railsplitters and their .409 hitting clip couldn't be stopped. LMU scored two more out of the timeout, and then King, who hit a minimal .067 from the net, started chipping away at the deficit. However, the Tornado never came within less than eight points of threatening the first set and the Railsplitters' 1-0 match lead as Carvalho secured it with a kill.
 
In the second set, it was a back-and-forth affair that featured a string of runs once a Kim error knotted the score at 17-all. From there, the Railsplitters scored three more — a pair of Cory kills and a Carvalho ace — to force a King timeout. The Tornado responded, scoring the next six of eight points to take the point lead, 23-22. Logan Kerley put down a kill followed by Johansen Negron subbing in and coming through with a service ace to pump up the crowd and his teammates, forcing King's final timeout with a chance to secure the match on the next point. Negron's serve went into the net this time, but the Railsplitters registered the next two points as Walley put down the kill for the 2-0 match lead.
 
The third and final set was much like the second, as the two in-state rivals swapped points before King went on a 5-0 run to take the 16-13 lead. Then, LMU responded and inched its way back into it with a point here and there, leading up to the grand finale that featured Risavy's key, no-look kill followed by an attack error to hand the Railsplitters their first-ever victory over the Tornado.
 
"I could have put anybody on the floor today and felt absolutely confident in how they were playing because it was just that good yesterday in our scrimmage," Cash said. "I felt really good coming into this. I felt like if we just took control of what we could control, and not have the bad, timely errors, we'd be fine. I felt like we did that for the most part, and I also felt like King flipped the script on us a little bit. They made some errors there, including that last point when he hits the ball out of bounds. We were in a position to force that, but he went ahead and swung at it and missed. That was big for us. I was proud of the guys. They did a really good job."