HARROGATE, Tenn. – With a boisterous crowd on hand, the Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team took down visiting Tusculum University 3-0 inside Mary Mars Gymnasium Friday night for both team's South Atlantic Conference opener. The host Lady Railsplitters (1-3, 1-0 SAC) used an attacking percentage of .224 and got 10 kills from senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker to claim their first victory of the 2019 season.
 
After a taking the opening set, 25-21, LMU edged the Pioneers (2-3, 0-1 SAC) 26-24 in set two and clinched the straight-set win with a dominant 25-19 third set.
 
A trio of Lady Railsplitters in senior right side hitter Rylee Storms, junior Missouri State-West Plains transfer middle hitter Yileen Ng He and freshman outside hitter Cate Hosenfeld combined for 27 kills as LMU hit 43 total for the match and held Tusculum to a .180 hitting percentage.
 
Behind a .371 attacking clip in the first set, the Lady Railsplitters collected 17 kills and took a 15-11 lead after a Pioneer service error. Finding themselves in a tie at 18-18 after a string of three points by Tusculum, LMU dug deep and came up with a trio of points of its own with a Hosenfeld kill, Emily Walter service ace and a Pioneer attack error. The Lady Railsplitters would not trail for the remainder of the set, winning four of the final five points of the stanza behind a pair of Nartker kills and a kill from freshman middle hitter Kaley Long.
 
The second set provided a back-and-forth battle between the two squads with LMU prevailing after coming up with a flurry of points. After trailing 14-12, the Lady Railsplitters won five consecutive points capped by a pair of Tusculum errors to pull ahead 17-14. However, the Pioneers would win five of the following six points to take a one-point lead at 19-18. An ace from sophomore setter Walter gave the lead back to the home team at 21-20, before the Pioneers went back in front 22-21.
 
A Hosenfeld kill and a Pioneer attack error put LMU up by one once again, but Tusculum countered and held set point at 24-23. Thanks to a Tusculum error, which was followed by a service ace from junior libero Sarah Jones, the Lady Railsplitters did not squander their set point at 25-24 and took a 2-0 lead in the match when freshman outside hitter Emma Winford put down a kill.
 
Set two proved to be the turning point in the match as LMU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set and never looked back. The Pioneers got within three at 7-4 and again at 11-8, but Hosenfeld's final four kills of the night closed the door and gave the host team the six-point win in set three
 
Walter claimed four aces, provided a match-high 35 assists and claimed 14 digs in the Friday night conference opener, while Storms had a pair of aces and two blocks along with Long. Defensively, Jones made a career-high 22 digs.
 
Tusculum was led by Taylor Blythe's 11 kills, Britney Shawel's three aces and Tatum Thornton's three blocks as Emiah Burrowes contributed eight kills of her own. Elise Carmichael handed out 21 assists for the Pioneers and Shawel dug out a match-best 28 Lady Railsplitter attacks.
 
Up Next…
LMU embarks on an extensive, seven-match SAC road trip over the following three weeks beginning Saturday at UVa-Wise. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. from the David J. Prior Convocation Center in Wise, Virginia.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will then head to Hickory, North Carolina, for a 2 p.m. match Sunday at Lenoir-Rhyne to wrap up the weekend, before taking on Newberry and Anderson away from Harrogate next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20-21.

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.