HARROGATE, Tenn. – In an exhilarating matchup Friday night inside Mar Mars Gymnasium, the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team pulled out an improbable five-set victory against local rival King University. The Railsplitters (7-4) came back from two sets down to earn their 22nd-straight win inside Mary Mars Gym, clinching the five-set thriller with a dominant 15-10 fifth set.
 
After falling behind 2-0 with a 25-23 opening set and 25-21 second set loss, LMU used a big, 25-13 third set to climb back into the match. After gutting out a 25-20 fourth set to even up things at 2-2, the Railsplitters were determined to complete the comeback in the final set.
 
Using a .320 attack across the five sets, LMU matched the Tornado's 47 kills but held a 10-5 advantage on the block. Behind senior middle hitter Pedro Carvalho's program-record 11 service aces, the Railsplitters tallied 19 total aces while getting a team-high 17 kills from senior opposite Evan Cory.
 
King (7-6), who entered Friday on a five-match win streak and is 5-0 in Conference Carolinas play, attacked at a .229 clip for the night as both teams hit over .350 in the first stanza.
 
The Tornado won the first four points of the match and built a 15-10 lead in the first set before recovering from a 19-18 deficit. Despite being down just one at 22-21 in the second set, LMU could not stop King from taking the next three points as a Tornado kill dug the Railsplitters in a two-set hole.
 
Coming out inspired in the third set, LMU won eight of the first 10 points and used a 10-3 run to build an insurmountable 21-11 advantage. In a tightly contested fourth set, the Railsplitters went on a 5-1 run to pull ahead 19-16 on a kill from sophomore middle/right side hitter Dawson Walker. From there, LMU would remain in control and closed out the set with back-to-back aces by sophomore outside hitter Johansen Negron.
 
Although King won five of the first six points of the fifth, the Railsplitters strung together nine consecutive points which included six aces from Carvalho. Leading 11-6, LMU traded points the rest of the way and clinch the match on a Carvalho kill.
 
Negron finished with 10 kills and sophomore outside hitter Jacob Titus added nine, while Walker made a match-high seven blocks and Cory added four aces and seven digs. Carvalho and Cory each had a trio of blocks and junior setter AJ Risavy and sophomore setter Ryan Foy each assisted on 21 kills. Freshman libero Attia Soliman earned seven digs and Titus collected six of his own.
 
The Tornado were led by Diego Marcano's match-high 21 kills, Jack Sarnowski's match-best 39 assists and Radek Bryja's match-high eight digs. King also got seven digs from Aaron Milstead, 10 kills from Radek and nine kills from Sean Kohlhase.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters return to match action Saturday night when they host Lees-McRae in a 7 p.m. first serve from inside Mary Mars Gym. Next weekend, LMU hits the road for a pair of matches at Belmont Abbey Friday, Feb. 21 and at Emmanuel College Saturday, Feb. 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 volleyball throughout the 2020 season.