GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Hitting the road for the first time of its 2020-21 campaign, the Lincoln Memorial University women's volleyball team had a challenging outing Tuesday night against Tusculum University inside Pioneer Arena. The Lady Railsplitters (1-2, 1-2 SAC) were unable to surpass the 16-point mark in any of the three sets of the South Atlantic Conference tilt in Greeneville, Tennessee, as the host Pioneers (1-1, 1-1 SAC) recorded 35 kills and swung at an impressive .295 clip.
 
Tusculum made just nine attack errors across set wins of 25-13, 25-12 and 25-16 and held LMU to a -.029 attack percentage and 24 kills. The Lady Railsplitters committed 27 attack errors while the Pioneers collected seven service aces and five total team blocks.
 
Registering attack percentages of .333 and .393 in the first two sets with 26 combined kills and only six attack errors, Tusculum proved to be too strong to overcome. After a negative attack in opening set, LMU hit at .042 in the second but earned just five kills before tallying 10 kills in a closer final set.
 
A 9-1 Pioneer run in the first set allowed Tusculum to grab the momentum early and the hosts cruised despite the Lady Railsplitters winning four of the last seven points of set one. A 2-1 LMU lead in the second set and a 5-5 tie quickly vanished thanks to a 12-2 Pioneer run that put Tusculum in front 17-7. After the Pioneers won four of the first six points of the third set, the Lady Railsplitters got consecutive kills from sophomore middle blocker Kaley Long and freshman outside hitter Katie Cardenas to get within one at 7-6. A four-point LMU run at 16-10 kept the Lady Railsplitters within striking distance but Tusculum closed out the match with a 9-2 run, winning the final six points.
 
Junior opposite Gabriela Abreu led LMU with six kills and nine digs, while senior middle blocker Yileen Ng He earned five kills and two blocks. Senior libero Sarah Jones also made nine digs and junior setter Emily Walter handed out 15 assists.
 
The Pioneers' Emiah Burrowes downed a match-high nine kills and Tusculum got eight kills from Peyton Gash and seven kills and two blocks from Carli Pigza. Lydia Collins served a trio of aces for the Pioneers as Catherine Clingan assisted on 16 kills and Carly Sosnowski got to a match-high 13 digs.
 
Up Next…
The Lady Railsplitters remain on the road and return to match action Friday night when LMU travels to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take on Queens University of Charlotte. First serve from inside the Levine Center is slated for 7 p.m.
 
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 Lady Railsplitter volleyball throughout the 2020-21 season.