Lions fall in five sets to conference rival Lincoln Memorial
The Mars Hill Lions valiantly battled in their home opening loss (25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 25-23, 7-15) against Lincoln Memorial in Stanford Arena Thursday night. Rebecca Butler led the Lions with 16 kills.
MARS HILL, N.C. - The Mars Hill Lions valiantly battled in their home opening loss (25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 25-23, 7-15) against Lincoln Memorial in Stanford Arena Thursday night. Rebecca Butler led the Lions with 16 kills.
Mars Hill (1-3, 0-1 SAC) put up a constant fight against the undefeated Railsplitters (4-0, 1-0 SAC), but ultimately could not pick up the come from behind victory.
Lincoln Memorial ran away with the fifth set, commanding a multiple point lead that the Lions could not catch in the late stages.
Butler paced the Lions offense in the first set, knocking down five kills. A back-and-forth affair saw the Lions reel off consecutive points to take the 1-0 lead.
The Railsplitters took the next two sets in convincing fashion with the offense running through Samantha Cash. Cash totaled 53 assists in the contest, often finding Rylee Storms and Kiera Holland for the attack attempts.
Mars Hill held on to a tight lead all throughout the fourth set to force the extra frame. Butler killed two consecutive Lions' attacks to force the first overtime in conference play of the season.
The Lions boasted four players with more than ten kills on the night in Butler (16), Sally Anne Johnson (11), Maddie Spurgeon (11) and Lauren Hochstetler (10). Lincoln Memorial countered with four of their own in Storms (16), Holland (14), Danielle Ged (12) and Kai Wesemann (11).
Elizabeth Kaeser picked up a team leading 27 digs while Sara Fahrenbrook and Hochstetler nabbed two aces.
The Lions return to Stanford Arena Saturday, September 9, squaring off against Carson-Newman University. The conference matchup is set to begin at 2 p.m.
