HARROGATE, Tenn. — Twice as nice.
 
From start to finish in the Independent Volleyball Association Tournament, the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team was locked in and never wavered from the task at hand. On Friday, the top-seeded Railsplitters took down No. 4 Daemen College in straight sets and had the exact same formula versus No. 2 Queens Saturday inside Mary Mars Gym.
 
LMU (18-7) was in cruise control as the host team secured its second consecutive IVA Tournament championship in a straight-set 3-0, 25-19, 25-13, 25-21, victory over the Royals (10-19). The victory solidified a perfect 12-0 record on the Railsplitters' home court as well as a new single-season program record 18 wins.
 
"We are feeling really good about how we finished," LMU head coach John Cash said. "We felt like we were in control all the way, even with a little hiccup to start the third set. I think you saw the resiliency of the guys step up, make plays, stay stingy on defense to convert it into offense and exert our pressure, which we've been doing pretty well all year long.
 
"We've grown from the beginning of the season to the end in a very positive way. It's a great catalyst to end on the 'W' and be the champ. With our recruits coming in, they were watching. All the stuff that we've doing has kind of put us in the position that we want to be in, so it was very exciting; a lot of fun."
 
The Off the Block Independent Teams Player of the Year and All-Independent Team member Evan Cory added another accolade to his list by being garnered the IVA Tournament Most Valuable player, while his fellow All-Independent Team members AJ Risavy and Pedro Carvalho were tabbed to the IVA All-Tournament team with him. Libero Matt Bridenbaugh was named IVA All-Tournament, as well.
 
MVP Cory posted yet another impressive stat line as he put down 13 kills on a .458 attack percentage to just two errors. The junior also had two service aces, a pair of blocks and three digs to equal into a match-high 16 points. Logan Kerley and Johansen Negron contributed six kills apiece, while Carvalho had four blocks, Andres Delgado had 10 digs and Risavy dished across 25 assists. Negron, Kerley and Walker had an ace apiece to pair with Cory's two for five total.
 
Queens (10-19) was paced by Nic Cavallaro and his nine kills plus Caden Frye's six and Tristan Santoyo's five, as that trio had an ace each for the Royals' team three. Josh Bragg and Cavallaro recorded five digs apiece, while Ruben Greenstein had four and Alexander Schinzing contributed 24 assists.
 
The Railsplitter onslaught started from the get-go and never let up much like all season versus the Royals. LMU came into this championship match, losing just one set to Queens (6-1) in two matchups.
 
Saturday was no different in front of packed Mary Mars Gym to keep the undefeated home streak alive.
 
"Great crowd, right? We had a lot of folks here," Cash said. "We had a lot of parents here and Queens represented and brought a lot of folks, as well. Kudos to [head coach] Jeremy [Price] and their team. They played great. I thought they played really solid ball. They've gotten better from the beginning of the year to now and you can see it. That was a lot of fun. Going undefeated at home doesn't happen very often and man, did we do it in big fashion this year."
 
The only thing that was missing for LMU this weekend was senior Jordan Walley, who sat out Friday and then played the first set point Saturday but was subbed out for Negron due to a banged-up ankle that was injured in practice Thursday afternoon.  Even without him in the action for his final match at LMU, he was in high spirits for the Railsplitters on the sidelines and doing what he has done the entire season: lead.
 
"He has been a rock for us this year, especially for the young guys off the court, weight room talk, nutrition," said Cash of Walley, "and all the little things people say, 'Eh, it's just volleyball.' It's way more that goes into this than that. He was a great catalyst for our guys this year and did a fantastic job of leading and I think that's going to help all the younger guys.
 
"We return everybody else and bring in six more, so that's going to do a great job moving forward for us and what that championship mindset is."
 
The Railsplitters started the season with that championship mindset and it never left their minds as they competed with the best in the country to see an improvement every single day.
 
It showed behind the program-record 18 wins and the way LMU out-played the Royals, hitting .386 compared to their .123 from the floor while racking up more kills (37-29), aces (5-3), blocks (7-3), assists (35-26) and digs (27-20).

The numbers proved who the better team was on the floor Saturday, and now LMU has the hardware in back-to-back IVA Tournament championships to back up that notion.
 
"We've raised the standard and we'll continue to raise the standard," Cash said, "and they know that's coming. I think they are pretty excited about it and you could see that in their energy after the game.  Before, during and after they were amped up and really wanted this. Some people may look at it and say, 'That's just an Independent thing,' but that's not how we see it when we play anybody.
 
"We are excited. When you win like this and do something important and have fun, it's just one of those things where you go, 'Yeah, this is it. I can't wait until next year.' We said that last year and so here we go moving into next year — same thing. It's pretty exciting."