HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team's season-opening conference crossover tournament came to an end late Saturday afternoon inside Mary Mars Gymnasium in Harrogate as the Lady Railsplitters fell in a straight-set match to visiting King University. The Conference Carolinas' Tornado registered a hitting percentage of .337 across three sets, using a strong offensive attack to battle for a 27-25 opening set win before claiming sets two and three, 25-15 and 25-21 respectively.
 
Tallying 37 kills of its own and hitting at a clip of .162 for the match, LMU was unable to rebound from the nail-biter first set. The Lady Railsplitters jumped out to a 12-9 lead in the opening stanza and held a 21-17 advantage after a King ball handling error. However, the Tornado rattled off five consecutive points and took a 22-21 lead before holding match point at 24-23 with a Tristyn Lozano kill. Senior right side hitter Rylee Storms rose up for a kill of her own to knot things at 24-all, but LMU would not see set point as two-straight points by the Tornado at 25 apiece gave the visiting team set one (27-25).
 
Unfortunately for the host Lady Railsplitters, King hit at a blistering mark of .522 in the second set and recovered from an early 5-2 deficit, taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a convincing 25-15 set win.
 
Although the Tornado continued its hot hitting in the third set with a percentage of .353 and 15 kills, LMU recorded its finest offensive set of the day. The Lady Railsplitters posted a hitting mark of .235 for the set and totaled 14 kills on 34 total attacks. After King grabbed a 5-1 lead early, LMU got within one at 10-9 thanks to a kill from sophomore Coppin State transfer outside hitter Macy Havill. A service ace by freshman libero Lauren Lask got the Lady Railsplitters within one once again at 15-14, before a pair of kills from senior outside hitter Lindsey Nartker and a Tornado attack error gave LMU its first lead of the set at 17-16. The Lady Railsplitters would be held to just four points for the remainder of the set as King won six-straight points and clinched the match with a 25-21 set three victory.
 
Junior Missouri State-West Plains transfer middle hitter Yileen Ng He led the way for LMU, attacking at a clip of .417 and tallying a team-high 13 kills. Sophomore setter Emily Walter logged a match-high 30 assists, while Storms and freshman middle hitter Makayla Fox recorded a pair of blocks. Defensively, Nartker made eight digs and freshman outside hitter Emma Winford contributed another seven.
 
The Tornado were paced by Julie Ward's 17 kills and .424 hitting percentage as Tristyn Lozano added 10 kills with a .429 attack percentage. Both claimed two aces on their serves, along with Hannah Rogers, who had 19 assists to tie Keri Ricker's 19 helpers. Brittney Ramsey provided a match-best seven total blocks for the visitors and Sydney Pigage and Lozano each dug out nine Lady Railsplitter attacks.
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters will have six days off from match play before returning to game action in Harrogate next weekend. LMU welcomes Tusculum to Mary Mars Gym Friday, Sept. 13 for a 7 p.m. first serve to begin South Atlantic Conference play, before hitting the road for an extensive seven-match road trip spanning across three weeks. Saturday, Sept. 14, the Lady Railsplitters will traverse to Wise, Virginia, to take on the Lady Cavaliers of UVa-Wise and then head to Hickory, North Carolina, Sunday, Sept. 15 for a SAC tilt at Lenoir-Rhyne.

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.