HICKORY, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team's streak of winning South Atlantic Conference sets came to an end Sunday afternoon at Lenoir-Rhyne as the host Bears (6-1, 2-1 SAC) narrowly escaped the visiting Lady Railsplitters (2-4, 2-1 SAC) in five sets. The 3-2 loss is LMU's first in SAC play this season after a pair of straight-set victories Friday and Saturday.
 
The Lady Railsplitters got a career-high 15 kills from freshman outside hitter Cate Hosenfeld and totaled a season-best 51 kills as a team but it wasn't enough to match Lenoir-Rhyne's .234 attack percentage. The Bears totaled 58 kills with Taylor Prall recording 23 of her own, racked up 11 aces, claimed 10 team blocks and earned 91 digs to take the over two-hour match.
 
Winning its seventh-straight set to open up league play, LMU started hot with a hitting mark of .256 and 15 kills in the opening set. After the home team won seven of the first eight points of the match, the Lady Railsplitters found their groove and took a 10-9 lead in the first set after a five-point run. A Hosenfeld kill put LMU ahead 15-11 before senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker made it 18-13 with a kill of her own. Another Hosenfeld kill gave the Lady Railsplitters a 23-18 lead, and Hosenfeld and fellow freshman middle hitter Makayla Fox tallied back-to-back kills to finish off the set at 25-19 and give LMU a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne responded with two strong sets, hitting at a clip of .379 in the second and .297 in the third. A Bear service ace gave the home team a 11-5 lead in the second set and Lenoir-Rhyne increased that advantage to eight at 16-8 after taking three-straight points. The Lady Railsplitters would not go away, however, and battled their way back to within two at 16-14 after going on a six-point tear. The hosts would limit LMU to just four points for the remainder of the second set as the Bears tied the match up with a 25-18 set win.
 
Holding the Lady Railsplitters to a .051 attack percentage in set three, Lenoir-Rhyne posted 16 kills and came back from a 9-5 deficit after a kill from junior Missouri State-West Plains transfer middle hitter Yileen Ng He. In fact, the Bears would win the following six points and 10 of the next 11 to mount a 15-10 lead. Despite LMU getting within four at 19-15 and 20-16, Lenoir-Rhyne held on for a 25-17 third set win to take a 2-1 lead in the contest.
 
The Lady Railsplitters had perhaps their finest offensive display in the fourth, hitting .278 for the set and making 13 kills to tie things up at 2-2 with a 25-17 set victory. Both squads went back-and-forth before the Bears took a 11-8 lead with a pair of kills and an LMU attack error. However, the Lady Railsplitters rattled off seven consecutive points to regain the lead at 15-11. Lenoir-Rhyne would get within two at 15-13 but a pair of Bear attack errors, a service error and a Ng He kill gave LMU a six-point advantage at 19-13. Hosenfeld closed out the fourth set with an ace to send the match into a deciding 15-point fifth set.
 
Two Lenoir-Rhyne kills and two Lady Railsplitter errors put the home team up 4-2 in the fifth set before a Nartker kill gave LMU its first lead of the set at 6-5. Knotted up at 7-7 and again at 8-8, the Bears benefited from a trio of Lady Railsplitter errors and then used strong attacks to win the final seven points of the set, clinching the match with a 15-8 win.
 
Nartker finished with 11 kills, while Fox added a career-best nine kills and senior right side hitter Storms six. Hosenfeld recorded two aces and two blocks as freshman defensive specialist Lauren Lask also made two service aces and Fox contributed two blocks. Sophomore setter Emily Walter handed out a match and season-high 47 assists and junior libero Sarah Jones made a career-high 34 digs.
 
Behind Prall's match-high 23 kills, Braelyn Faust and Taylor Walton each registered seven kills for Lenoir-Rhyne. Faust also made a match-high six total blocks, while Madison Asher and Jackie Denny each accounted for four and Ashley Hawkins dialed up four aces. Prall served three aces of her own as Mackenzie Hulsey had 25 assists and Helen Hamilton 24. Defensively, the Bears got 26 digs from Hawkins and 17 from Prall.
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters continue their extensive, seven-match SAC road swing next weekend when they travel to South Carolina for matches at Newberry and Anderson. LMU will take on the Wolves Friday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in Newberry, before facing the Trojans Saturday, Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. in Anderson.

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.