HARROGATE, Tenn. – A total of seven Lincoln Memorial University athletics programs will be competing this week as all five fall sports are in action with both women's golf and men's bowling beginning their 2019-2020 campaigns. Women's and men's soccer will each have a road game and a home contest this week to open up South Atlantic Conference play, while women's volleyball continues its league schedule in South Carolina. Men's and women's cross country return to race action this weekend and women's golf hosts the State Farm Intercollegiate Monday and Tuesday. Men's bowling visits northwestern Ohio for its 2019-20 season-opening tournament Saturday and Sunday.
 
Throughout 2019-20, LMU athletics will provide a look ahead at the week's calendar of athletic events, both home and away, previewing each team's competition/s and highlighting team's news, notes, performances and more.
 
Women's Golf
The Lady Railsplitters fire up the fall portion of their 2019-20 season by hosting the State Farm Intercollegiate - SAC Preview today and tomorrow at the Woodlake Golf Course in Tazewell, Tennessee.
 
A total of eight NCAA Division II programs are competing on the par-72, 5,926-yard golf course with six fellow SAC members joining the Lady Railsplitters in Tazewell. Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, Carson-Newman, Newberry, Coker and Queens, in addition to host LMU and the Peach Belt Conference's Christian Brothers University, are playing a total of 36 holes across the two days.
 
Teams teed off Monday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. for 18 holes of play, before Tuesday's final round starting at 8:30 a.m.
 
Women's Soccer
SAC play is here and the 14th-ranked Lady Railsplitters (4-0) are beginning the conference slate with their biggest rival, Carson-Newman. Before the LMU women's soccer team defeated the Eagles in the SAC Tournament last season, it had lost five straight in a series Carson-Newman (1-2) has controlled (17-8-2) since the late '90s. The Lady Railsplitters did one better versus the Eagles, winning a penalty shoot-out in the NCAA Southeast Regional semifinals to advance to the Southeast Regional Championship.
 
LMU is more than prepped for this early-season SAC road showdown at 5 p.m. Wednesday as it comes in undefeated following a huge weekend road trip in Georgia.
 
On Saturday, Queens (4-1) will visit the LMU Soccer Complex for the two teams' eighth meeting, where the Lady Railsplitters hold the slight 3-2-2 advantage and have won the previous two matchups. Before facing LMU, the Royals will open at Catawba for their fourth straight and sixth road match of the young season.
 
Men's Soccer
The men's soccer program traveled to Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, last Tuesday and found themselves in a lightning-shortened affair. Without either team able to find the back of the net, the game ended in the 82nd minute due to a lightning delay, resulting in a 0-0 stalemate. On Saturday, fourth-ranked Young Harris College made its appearance at the LMU Soccer Complex for the two teams' sixth all-team meeting. Only the third top-five ranked men's soccer team to visit Harrogate, the Mountain Lions handed the Railsplitters a 3-1 setback.
 
This week, LMU (0-1-2) gets back on the road and travels to Carson-Newman University for the two squads' first SAC matchup of the season. It will mark the 16th all-time meeting between the Railsplitters and Eagles with LMU owning an 8-6-1 head-to-head record. Kickoff is slated for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Saturday, the Railsplitters return to host SAC foe Queens. LMU leads the all-time series, which dates back to October of 2012, 4-3-1 after earning a 2-1 victory in Charlotte a year ago. Start time is slated for 3:30 p.m. from the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
Women's Volleyball
The Lady Railsplitters began SAC play this past weekend beginning with a Friday night 3-0 home victory over visiting Tusculum University. The straight-set win would the first of back-to-back as LMU began an extensive, seven-match league road trip Saturday with a 3-0 win at UVa-Wise. On Sunday, the Lady Railsplitters completed the SAC opening weekend of play with hard-fought, five-set battle at Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
LMU looks to add upon its 2-1 conference start this weekend with a pair of matches in the Palmetto State. On Friday, Sept. 20, the Lady Railsplitters will take on Newberry at 7 p.m. in Newberry, before visiting Anderson Saturday, Sept. 21 for a 2 p.m. match at Anderson.
 
Holding a 21-9 all-time record against the Wolves, LMU has won three-straight over Newberry, including a straight-set win in Harrogate last October. In their last visit to Newberry last September, the Lady Railsplitters pulled out a 15-11 fifth set behind senior right side hitter Rylee Storms' 15 kills and four blocks. LMU owns a 16-9 record in the all-time series with the Trojans, earning a 3-2 triumph in the 2018 SAC Tournament semifinals last November. Prior to last season's neutral-site victory over Anderson, the Lady Railsplitters had lost four-straight against the Trojans and were handed a straight-set loss last September in Anderson.
 
Making her collegiate debut this past Friday against Tusculum, freshman outside hitter Cate Hosenfeld set career highs in each of LMU's three matches over the weekend. She led all Lady Railsplitter attackers for the week with a team-best 34 kills, averaging 3.1 kills per set and hitting at a clip of .258.
 
Setter Emily Walter is off to a great start in her second year at LMU and was tabbed SAC AstroTurf Specialist of the Week Monday morning. The sophomore assisted on 116 of the team's 136 kills this past weekend and has handed out 30 or more assists in each of the last four matches. She has also made double-digit digs in two of the Lady Railsplitters' last three matches and is averaging 8.8 assists per set for the season.
 
Men's and Women's Cross Country
The men's and women's cross country teams continue their seasons Saturday morning when they run in the Bulldog Stampede in Wingate, North Carolina. Start time for the women's 6K is 8:30 a.m. with the men's 8K following at 9:15 a.m.
 
The meet will provide the strongest test to date for the Railspitters with 15 teams from the SAC and NCAA Southeast Region participating. The run will also give the teams a feel for the course, which is scheduled to host both the conference and regional championships this year.
 
Sam Lloyd-Perks and Michael Jakubek had strong runs at the season-opening Zaxby's Open two weekends ago at Tusculum and head coach Jeremy Donahue is expecting both to improve against a stronger field.
 
"The 8K course is a better fit for Sam and the type of runner he is," said head coach Donahue. "This will be a big test for Michael as he works back from an injury he sustained last year. This will be a big test of his endurance and stamina."
 
Donahue will be keeping an eye on freshman Mason Johns, who will be running his first collegiate 8K, and senior Harrison Calhoun, who he expects to keep pace with Johns
 
The LMU women will be running a 6K course, led by sophomore Tabea Kandlbauer. Kandlbauer had a strong fourth-place finish on the 5K Zaxby's course and is expected to lead the way for the Lady Railsplitters once again.
 
"Her race at Tusculum was solid," stated Donahue. "This race will give us a good idea where she is in relation to the rest of the conference and the region. This will be a good test for her."
 
Sophomores Kylie Holmes, Brooke Foster and Maria Chellah are expected to follow Kandlbauer in the pack.
 
Some notable teams to watch in the meet are SAC leaders Wingate and Catawba, while Mount Olive and Augustana are two of the stronger regional squads competing.
 
Men's Bowling
The LMU men's bowling squad returns seven from its previous season as the Railsplitters begin the fall portion of their 2019-20 campaign by traveling to the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, Ohio, for the Racer Classic this upcoming weekend. The two-day event will take place at the Westgate Entertainment Center Friday and Saturday, Sept. 21-22.
 
How to Follow
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 Railsplitter and Lady Railsplitter athletics throughout 2019-20.