Lions Drop SAC Opener to Lincoln Memorial

HARROGATE, TENN.— Mars Hill dropped their South Atlantic Conference opener to Lincoln Memorial in four sets Tuesday night at Mars Gym.

LMU earned the victory by scores of 25-17, 23-25, 25-16 and 25-15. Kaitlin Walton led the Railsplitters with 17 kills and helped LMU outhit the Lions by a .305-.150 margin. Toni Cole led MHU with 16 kills, while Victoria Kaiser added a career-high 17 digs. Mars Hill fell to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in SAC matches. LMU is now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in SAC matches.

Kendra Gephart added 13 kills and 10 digs for the Railsplitters, while Brooke Fleeman added nine kills. Casey Mense notched a match-high 25 digs. Setters Allison Beavers and Abby Cash each notched double-doubles and combined for 50 assists and 20 digs.

Maggie Murphy led MHU defensively with a team-high 18 digs. Marissa Wixson added 15 kills and six digs. Courtney Worthington notched a career-high 26 assists.

A trio of runs helped LMU to the 25-17 victory in the first set. The first turned a five-all tie into a 9-5 lead for the Railsplitters. A three-point run opened the LMU lead to 15-9, while a late three-point run put the set out of reach and gave LMU a 23-15 lead.

Mars Hill raced out to an 8-4 lead in the second set. Cole and Wixson each had a pair of kills during that stretch, while MaryKate Griffin added a kill and Kaiser notched a service ace. Griffin had six kills in the match. LMU was able to fight back and took a late 23-20 off a Lion attack error. MHU rallied to earn the last five points of the set, with a service ace and kill by Murphy capping off the 25-23 victory. 

A kill by Griffin gave MHU a 10-7 lead in the third set, but after that it was all Lincoln Memorial. LMU ripped off 11 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 18-12 lead. Four different Railsplitters had kills during the run. The Lions would get no closer than five the rest of the set, which LMU won 25-16.

LMU broke open a 10-10 tie with five straight points to take command of the fourth set. Two kills by Oates, a kill by Gephart and a service ace by Cash accounted for the offense in the run. MHU would get no closer than four the rest of the set as LMU closed out the Lions 25-15.

Mars Hill will continue SAC play next Tuesday when they face travel to Carson-Newman for a 7:00 p.m. match.