HARROGATE, Tenn. — The foundation was laid last April.
 
Winning the Independent Volleyball Association championship a year ago — under a first-year head coach in a second-year program — was just a glimpse of what was to come for the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball program.
 
"As I told the guys last year, that was the humble beginning," LMU second-year head coach John Cash said.
 
Now, the top-seeded Railsplitters have an opportunity to repeat as IVA champions when No. 2 Queens (9-18), No. 3 Coker (5-15) and fourth-seeded Daemen (6-15) come to Mary Mars Gym for the two-day tournament, starting at 4 p.m. Friday. The full schedule can be viewed on the Tournament Central page.
 
Such a feat has been at the top of the Railsplitters' season to-do list. The other was to be a 20-win program, but due to unforeseen circumstances, three of the scheduled matches LMU (16-7) had were canceled, but that doesn't take away from the historic season the Railsplitters have set.
 
Those 16 wins are a new program-record high — with last season's 14 wins being the previous best — while LMU defeated its first-ever Division I program in Quincy and took down in-state rival King for the first time in convincing fashion.
 
"We are right on task with our goals that we had set: being a 20-win program, if you take those three matches that were canceled and throw them in the mix — I feel pretty strong about us winning those — and we sitting at 19 wins instead of 16, but it is what it is," Cash said. "That was a factor that wasn't controllable by us. We can do with what we have in front of us, which is still win the IVA Championship, which has been a goal all year long and get to 18 wins and is a very attainable number from our viewpoint based on how we've been able to play.
 
"All the goals are still in sight. Everything is looking good, moving in the right direction that we want it to go. We are seated in a good place to do that. We have an opportunity to control the destiny we can control in front of us and that's win that IVA championship and that's what we want to do."
 
LMU's first test in the third-year of the IVA Tournament will be against Daemen College, who was one of the three matches canceled mid-season. Since the two weren't able to play their first-ever match in February, it'll now take place on a much bigger stage in a win-or-home scenario.
 
Cash had nothing but praise for the first-year program Wildcats, their head coach Don Gleason and setter Michael Krueger. Of Daemen's nine-man roster, eight are freshmen while the other is a redshirt freshman.
 
"Daemen is a new program and Donny has done a great job with them for a first-year program, doing a lot of solid things with a limited amount of guys," Cash said. "He's played a very competitive schedule. They are no slouch; they have a great setter, who really runs the show. They are athletic, move the ball well and pass pretty decent. It'll be no cupcake for us. We are going to have to play and earn it and win. We like some of our matchups on film we've seen. We think we can expose some things with them, but at the end of the day, that all comes down to once the whistle blows and you start throwing the ball around are you going to be able to do your job? And we feel pretty confident about that.
 
"They've lost three in a row to end the regular season, so they are going to be hungry for a win and to prove themselves. They have nothing to lose. They have everything to gain, and we want to make sure that doesn't happen, and we take care of business on our side."
 
The Railsplitters are a young bunch, too, with only one senior in Jordan Walley, who will be recognized on Saturday. The true verbal leader will be honored in either the consolation match at 11 a.m. Saturday — featuring the losers of LMU vs. Daemen and Queens vs. Coker — or in the championship match at 2 p.m., which will take each victor from those matches. If Coker and LMU were to meet, it'd be a rematch of last year's championship match, in which the Railsplitters were victorious in with a five-set victory.
 
In both regular-season matches, the Railsplitters defeated both Coker and Queens. LMU swept Coker, winning in straight sets (6-0), while losing just one set to the Royals (6-1).
 
That success is largely due to the emergence of the Railsplitters' highly-touted freshmen — led by 6-foot-6 Dawson Walker — which has taken the team's depth to another level and pushed the other players, including a JUCO transfer like Walley.
 
"He's a leader among the guys, not only on the floor but off the floor. … He's done his job as a captain this year, stepping into that role, and being a more verbal leader than a physical leader on the floor," Cash said. "But because of the pressure out here, I think he's elevated his game because of the guys that have been behind him, pushing him too.
 
"That's still every day. I think everybody likes to be challenged and he's stepped into that and embraced that. It isn't always easy, especially when you know a younger guy is knocking on your door to take your job. He's fought hard to not only earn opportunity but worked twice as hard to keep it."
 
The entire LMU squad has had to have that mindset, due to the team's night-and-day depth difference. It's done the Railsplitters well, though, elevating the competition in practice which has rolled over onto the court and mirrors the success the men's volleyball program has had this season. 

And the greatest part is the Railsplitters' quest isn't finished quite yet.

"It's going to be a fun tournament," Cash said. "You can look at all the numbers and say, 'Wow this team is doing this and wow this team is doing that,' but when you get into the one-and-done scenario, it's pressure. Whoever can handle that pressure the best is going to come out on top this weekend. We feel like we've prepared ourselves pretty well for that with our schedule and what we do in practice. It's going to be exciting none the less. We have our goal set high, so we'll see how it goes.
 
"Our goal all year long was looking at this and saying, 'This is a championship opportunity. There aren't many teams that get to end their season on a 'W.'"