BELMONT, N.C. – For the second consecutive Friday night, the Lincoln Memorial University men's volleyball team completed an improbable two-set comeback, doing so this week at Belmont Abbey inside the Wheeler Center in Belmont, North Carolina. After 25-19 and 25-22 first and second sets, the Railsplitters (9-4) gutted out a 32-30 third set before winning set four 25-19 and the decisive fifth, 15-12.
 
Overcoming seven match points in the third set, LMU tied its season-high with 62 kills on a .313 attack. The 62 kills tying the second-most in any match in program history, the Railsplitters got a season-best 24 kills from senior opposite Evan Cory and a season-high tying 14 kills from reigning Off the Block Independent Teams Player of the Week senior Pedro Carvalho.
 
With 11 total blocks as a team, LMU was paced by sophomore middle/right side hitter Dawson Walker's six blocks and Carvalho's five. Junior setter AJ Risavy tied his season best by assisting on 50 of the Railsplitters' 62 kills and Cory had a season-high 14 digs on defense, while freshman libero Attia Soliman made seven digs and sophomore outside hitter Johansen Negron tallied a trio of service aces.
 
Attacking at a .419 clip in the third set, LMU notched at least 10 kills in each of the last four sets and hit over .350 in the final three.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the match and down 24-21 in the third, the Railsplitters faced three-straight match points. Back-to-back kills by Carvalho and Cory got LMU within one before Carvalho served an ace to even the set at 24-24. Another Cory kills saved match point at 25-24 and a Crusader serving error kept the match alive at 26-25. A Negron kill at 27-26 staved off a sixth match point before Cory rose up for a kill to save the seventh and final Belmont Abbey match point of the night.
 
Knotted at 30-all in the extended third, a pair of Crusader errors gave the set to the Railsplitters at 32-30. It marked just the second time in program history LMU reached 30 points in a single set.
 
The Railsplitters won three of the first four points of the fourth set and pushed their lead out to 17-12 before going up 24-17 on a Negron ace. Moments later, a kill from Cory evened up the match at 2-2.
 
After dropping two of the first three points of the fifth set, LMU used a 4-1 run to take a 10-9 lead on a Carvalho kill. Three points in a row capped by Negron's third ace of the match gave the Railsplitters a promising 13-10 lead and a pair of kills by Cory completed the remarkable comeback.
 
Belmont Abbey, who dropped to 7-8 on the season with the loss, got a match-high 28 kills from Liam Maxwell and 18 kills from Andrew Kohut as Brian Long made six blocks and Daniel Cerqua had 13 digs.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters traverse south to Franklin Springs, Georgia, where they take on Emmanuel College Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Next weekend, LMU returns to the friendly confines of Mary Mars Gymnasium where it will welcome Queens Friday, Feb. 28 and Limestone Saturday, Feb. 29.  
 
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.