HARROGATE, Tenn. – With winter sports in full swing, a total of five Lincoln Memorial University athletic programs are in action this week as men's and women's bowling return to their 2019-20 seasons. Men's and women's basketball continue the heart of their South Atlantic Conference schedules with both a home and away game, while men's volleyball takes on Tusculum and 15th-ranked Ohio State on the road.
 
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 program's news, notes, performances and more.
 
Men's Volleyball
Beginning its 2020 campaign last week with a trio of matches, the LMU men's volleyball team wraps up a four-match road trip with Tusculum Tuesday night and 15th-ranked Ohio State Thursday. The Railsplitters went 2-1 over their opening week of play, winning their 19th-straight home match last Tuesday night with a straight-set victory against Mount Olive inside Mary Mars Gymnasium. LMU split its first two road tests of the season against Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) opponents, dropping a 3-1 decision at Lindenwood University Friday night before sweeping Quincy University 3-0 in Illinois Saturday night.
 
Receiving votes in the first Off the Block Division II Coaches Poll of the season, the Railsplitters got a big week from senior opposite Evan Cory who was named Off the Block Independent Teams Player of the Week. The 6-foot-4 Metairie, Louisiana, native tallied 47 kills across LUM's three matches, averaging 4.7 kills a set and hitting .287 with four service aces, six total blocks and 16 digs.
 
Perhaps the highlight of the week for the Railsplitters came in their season opener against Mount Olive when the squad's true team effort play was caught on video and went viral on social media. Junior outside hitter Logan Kerley made a head-butt save after freshman libero Attia Soliman made a full-extension diving dig on a Trojan attack. Outside hitter Johansen Negron then dove to get the ball over the net, which ended up resulting in a point for LMU. The video was Tweeted out by ESPN's SportsCenter.
 
The Railsplitters will take on first-year program Tusculum (1-2), who is also a member of the Independent Volleyball Association, Tuesday night at 7 p.m. inside Pioneer Arena in Greeneville, Tennessee. Thursday night, LMU closes out its four-match road trip by traveling to 15th-ranked Ohio State (3-0) for a 6 p.m. first serve at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
 
Tuesday night will be the first ever meeting between the Railsplitters and Pioneers in men's volleyball. LMU has taken on Ohio State just one other time, facing the then 14th-ranked Buckeyes in Ohio last February. The Railsplitters gutted out a 25-23 set three win but were topped in four sets by a strong Ohio State squad.
 
Women's Basketball
The LMU women's basketball team closes out its three-game homestand Wednesday when it hosts Mars Hill at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Railsplitters will then hit the road for the next week, travelling to Anderson Saturday and Tusculum next Wednesday, Jan. 22.
 
Freshman Lauren Flowers leads the team in scoring averaging 11.9 points a game and also leads LMU in assists with 3.3 a game. Senior Shermeria Quarles is averaging 8.9 points and leads the Lady Railsplitters in both rebounding (6.4 RPG) and blocks (0.8 BPG), while redshirt sophomore Lexi Kiser leads the team in steals with 1.8 a contest.
 
As a unit, LMU is averaging 62 points and 36.8 rebounds a game. This week's games will be the first time the Lady Railsplitters have faced either team this season.
 
LMU is 21-11 versus Mars Hill and will be going for its ninth consecutive win over the Lions, holding an 11-4 record in Harrogate. Saturday, the Lady Railsplitters will be seeking their first win against Anderson since Jan. 3, 2018. The host Trojans own a 15-6 advantage all-time and have won 10 of the last 12 meetings. LMU is 2-9 versus Anderson away from Harrogate with its last road victory in the series coming in January of 2017.
 
Men's Basketball
Two SAC victories and two highlight-reel dunks from senior point guard Anthony Brown. It was just another week for Railsplitter hoops, who extended their nation-leading win streak to 15 with a 76-64 home triumph over UVA Wise last Wednesday and a dominant 110-85 victory against nationally-ranked Catawba Saturday inside Tex Turner Arena. Third-ranked LMU (15-1, 8-0) shot 60.3 percent from the field and scored 61 second-half points in the win over the 22nd-ranked Indians, knocking down 13 three pointers and having three different 20-point scorers. Led by sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley's 29 points, the Railsplitters got a career-high 27 from sophomore point guard Julius Brown and another 21 from Anthony Brown in the top-25 battle of league and NCAA Division II Southeast Region leaders.
 
After averaging 26 points, eight rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals across the two wins, McCauley was tabbed SAC AstroTurf Player of the Week for the second time of the season.
 
LMU looks to remain perfect at home and in league play Wednesday night when Mars Hill (7-7, 5-3) visits Harrogate for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. On Saturday, the Railsplitters take their talents on the road and travel to Anderson (8-6, 3-5) for a 4 p.m. tilt inside the Abney Athletic Center.
 
Owning a 36-9 all-time record versus Mars Hill, LMU is on a 20-game win streak in the series and has not dropped a game to the Lions since an overtime affair on Jan. 23, 2010. The Railsplitters are 19-4 against Mars Hill at home with each of the last 10 meetings inside Tex Turner Arena being decided by no fewer than 12 points. Both of LMU's last two losses to the Lions came in overtime with three of its nine total being decided in extra time.
 
Saturday, the Railsplitters will be going for their 14th consecutive win over the Trojans and seventh straight in Anderson, South Carolina. Including a double-overtime thriller last December where redshirt-senior forward Rhondi Hackett laid in a game-winning put-back layup with 0.4 seconds remaining, LMU has not lost to the Trojans on the road since Jan. 14, 2012. Holding a 15-7 record in the series, the Railsplitters last suffered a defeat to Anderson on Nov. 26, 2013 in overtime.
 
Women's Bowling
The Lady Railsplitters, who went 26-26 in four tournaments during the fall portion of their season, return to competition this weekend at the Northeast Classic in Croydon, Pennsylvania. The three-day tournament co-hosted by Sacred Heart and Long Island University and held at the AMF Bristol Pike Lanes Friday-Sunday, Jan. 17-19 will be LMU's first tournament in nearly two months.
 
Posting a third-place finish at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Warhawk Classic in Madison, Wisconsin (Nov. 8-10), the Lady Railsplitters had three different bowlers collect East Coast Conference weekly awards in the first half of their season. Senior Mary-Kate Kersting was named ECC Bowler of the Week on Oct. 24 after dominating at the season-opening seventh annual Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Invitational in Harahan, Louisiana, and capturing LMU's first tournament MVP honor. Fellow senior Marisol Dodson picked up ECC Bowler of the Week honors twice, on Nov. 14 and Nov. 26 for her performances at the Warhawk Classic and Hawk Classic Invitational in Millsboro, Delaware (Nov. 22-24). Freshman Jada Bassette was also heralded as ECC Rookie of the Week on Nov. 26 for her showing at the Hawk Classic Invitational.
 
Juniors Justine Brookover and Tyra Sanchez were named to the all-tournament team at the Warhawk Classic and the Lady Railsplitters begin the second half of their season ranked 20th in the nation according to the most recent National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Top 25. Tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the ECC, LMU was ranked fourth in the NTCA Division II/III preseason poll.
 
Men's Bowling
The Railsplitter men's bowling crew opens the new year with a United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Tier 1 collegiate tournament at Stardust Bowl in Addison, Illinois, for the Kegel/Illinois State Bowling Proprietors Association (ISBPA) Midwest Collegiate Classic. The tournament, which is held Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18-19, consists of a 160-team playing field comprised of men's and women's divisions.
 
LMU kicks off the tournament with five traditional team matches Saturday and concludes on Sunday with 20 Baker matches. Tournament champions are to be determined by team's pinfall total throughout the weekend. The top five individual scorers will be named to the all-tournament teams.
 
Competing in seven tournaments across the fall portion of the season, the Railsplitters finished either first or second three times and notched back-to-back tournament titles at the University of Pikeville's Orange and Black Classic in Beavercreek, Ohio (Oct. 12-13), and the Brandon Burns Baker Classic in Smyrna, Tennessee (Oct. 26-27).
 
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.