Nashville, TN – The Christine Phillips era of Women's Volleyball opened in Middle Tennessee as part of the Ray Thrasher Classic held by Trevecca Nazarene.  Two programs from different ends of the volunteer state would make up day one of the classic.

Opponent number one was a familiar foe in King University.  Set one proved that the Lady Railsplitters came out motivated as they hit a match high .353 on their way to an opening set win 25-15.  LMU opened set two on a seven to four run before the Tornado fought back to tie the set at seven and eventually lead by as many as four before the set was tied at 17.  Ultimately, errors would cost set two as King would win 25-22.  With each team taking one of the first two sets, the battle was on and would be a struggle for both teams.  Set three saw the Tornado lead for most of the set but a late 9-2 Lady Railsplitter run would give them the set 25-18.  LMU continued their run at the start of the fourth set as they raced out to an 8-0 start.  King would battle back late but, in the end, LMU was too strong to start the season and they would finish set four 25-19 and take the season opening match 3-1 over King.  Freshman Abigail Kesler led LMU in her debut with 15 kills on a .609 hitting percentage.  Fellow freshman Maggie Sanderson also tailed double digit kills with 10 kills on a .346 hitting percentage. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters would have to wait most of the day before they could face the Christian Brothers.  LMU started on a 6-2 run before running to a 20-12 lead.  The Lady Buccaneers came to life trailing by eight, but the deficit was too much and LMU took set one 25-20.  The Lady Buccaneers would not slow down as they used a .417 hitting percentage to win stage two 25-13.  The hot hitting Bucs would continue to make good connection with the ball while forcing the Lady Railsplitters to nine errors in set three as the Lady Bucs would take set three 25-14.  Once the Christian Brothers got hot there seemed to be nothing to cool them off this evening.  They went back and forth with LMU in set four through the first 18 points leading LMU 10-8 but it was there the Lady Bucs pulled away using a 15-6 run to end the night in set four 25-14 and handing LMU their first loss of the season.  Maddi Rowley led Christian Brothers with a double double 16 kills and 15 digs while maintaining a .419 hitting percentage.  Teammate Calah Jackson added 10 kills.  LMU's Ketura Margaret led the blue and gray with ten kills but it was 22 team errors that hurt LMU in game two of the day.
 
LMU will now look to rebound tomorrow when they return to day two of the Ray Thrasher Classic to face Alabama-Huntsville and host Trevecca Nazarene.

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