Freshmen Pace Lions to Four-Set Victory over LMU

MARS HILL, N.C.-- Mars Hill's volleyball team got a big performance from its freshman class to help overcome a slow start and earn a four-set victory over Lincoln Memorial in South Atlantic Conference action Thursday evening in Stanford Arena.

After dropping the first set 25-13, the Lions rallied back to earn 25-14, 26-24 and 25-18 victories. Career-best performances from a trio of freshman keyed the MHU victory. MaryKate Griffin's career-high 18 kills paced MHU offensively. Griffin hit .302 in the match. Victoria Kaiser added a career-high 27 digs, while Lindsay Austin notched a career-high 11 digs. Freshman Courtney Worthington added 26 assists and four block assists. Jazzy Oates paced LMU with 12 kills on a .348 hitting percentage. Mars Hill improved to 11-6 overall and 9-4 in SAC matches. LMU falls to 14-7 overall and 9-4 in conference matches.

Marissa Wixson put away 16 kills and added a game-high five blocks, including three solo. Toni Cole added 14 kills on a .306 hitting percentage. Hannah Wilson (20 assists) helped set the MHU attack. The Lions had 10 blocks in the match.

Kaitlan Walton added seven kills for LMU. Casey Mense notched a team-high 24 digs, while Abby Cash added 31 assists and 19 digs for the double-double. Kendra Gephart notched six kills and 12 digs for the Railsplitters.

LMU opened the match on fire, as an 11-point run paced the Railsplitters to the 25-13 win in the opening set. Oates had two kills in the run, while Allison Beavers and Walton each added kills. LMU hit .357 in the opening set, but hit no higher than .114 in any set the rest of the way.

Mars Hill used a big run to return the favor in the second set. With Maggie Murphy holding serve, the Lions scored 10 straight to take a 19-9 lead. Griffin had six kills in the run, while Cole added a kill and Murphy notched a service ace. Murphy had 19 digs in the match. MHU took the set, 25-14.

The Lions had to dig deep to pull out the victory in the third set. Four straight by the Railsplitters had MHU facing match point at 24-20, but the Lions ripped off six straight to earn the 26-24 victory. A kill by Cole, a pair of attack errors, a service ace by Cole, a bad set by LMU, and a kill by Wixson gave the Lions the victory.

A five point run gave MHU the lead for good in the final set at 16-13. Three kills by Cole and a pair of kills by Griffin provided the offense. An ace by Austin and a kill by Griffin capped off the strong performance from the Lion freshman class and gave MHU the final 25-18 margin.

Mars Hill will open a four-match road trip at Lenoir-Rhyne next Monday, Oct. 21 at 7:00 p.m.