Volleyball Rallies for Five-Set Win at Lincoln Memorial

Volleyball Rallies for Five-Set Win at Lincoln Memorial

HARROGATE, Tenn. – Four Trojans reached double-figure kills for the second straight outing, as the Anderson volleyball team wrapped up its two-match road swing by rallying for a five-set, 3-2 (25-10, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-11) South Atlantic Conference win over Lincoln Memorial, Saturday afternoon at Mary Mars Gymnasium.

Anderson (24-3, 15-2 SAC) claimed its third straight victory and has won eight of its last nine outings, while Lincoln Memorial (14-7, 10-5 SAC) saw its win streak snapped at five and fell to 10-4 at home.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Redshirt sophomore Hailee Wilhelm led all players with a career-high 20 kills and added three block assists, while sophomore right-side hitter Regan Duty notched a career-best 16 kills and came up with five digs on the afternoon. Freshman Liliana Kinder tallied a career-high 14 kills, with senior Jayln Knight posting 13 kills and 13 digs. Junior setter Emily Conlin dished out a season-high 60 assists and shared team-high honors with 20 digs. Freshman libero also tallied 20 digs, with senior Megan Embry chipping in 13 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
The Trojans posted an astonishing .538 hitting percentage in the opening frame, as the Black and Gold knocked down 16 kills in 26 attempts, while committing just two errors.

Kinder knocked down five kills in the set, with Knight and Wilhelm each adding four kills apiece, as AU bolted out to an 11-3 lead and built a double-digit, 16-6, advantage on an error by the Lady Railsplitters before going on for the 15-point margin of victory.

Second Set
The second frame saw eight ties, with AU snapping an early 4-4 deadlock with a 10-5 run that gave the Trojans a 14-9 advantage. But LMU countered with a 9-4 run of its own to even the score at 18 apiece.

Neither team was able to build more than a two-point lead the rest of the way, with the Lady Railsplitters closing out the win with a kill and a block.

Third Set
Despite hitting just .174, the Lady Railsplitters gained the upper hand with a win in the third frame.

LMU jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, only to see the Trojans go on an 10-5 run and take a 13-12 advantage when Kinder and Hannah Worsham combined for a block. With AU holding a narrow 15-13 lead moments later, the 'Splitters posted an 8-3 run to take a lead they would not surrender and went on for the five-point win.

Fourth Set
After hitting .095 in the third frame, the Trojans bounced back to notch a .310 hitting percentage in the fourth set.

There were three early ties, with AU snapping the third deadlock on Wilhelm's first kill of the set and building a three-point lead. The Trojans held a four-point advantage nine times the rest of the way and took the set on Conlin's second kill of the frame.

Fifth Set
The Trojans erased an early two-point deficit and snapped an 8-8 tie with three unanswered points as part of a 4-1 run that was capped by Knight's third kill of the frame.

With AU leading, 11-8, the Lady Railsplitters posted a late 3-1 surge to get within one, but Duty answered with a kill and following an LMU error, Conlin secured the win with a kill.

NOTABLES
• The Trojans have won four straight over LMU and have swept the last two regular-season series with the Lady Railsplitters.
• AU is 2-0 in five-set matches this season.
• The Trojans are 14-3 away from home this season.
• AU has reached the 24-win plateau for the fifth time in school history and will look to become just the third team in the record books to earn at least 25 victories in a season Friday night versus Wingate.
• Last year's team won a school-record 28 matches, while the 2014 squad posted 25 victories.
Hailee Wilhelm has averaged 15.3 kills over the last three matches.
Regan Duty has 28 kills in the last two matches.
Emily Conlin averaged 53 ½ assists this weekend.
Meghan DeVaux tallied 38 digs on the road trip.
Jayln Knight averaged 12 kills and 15 digs over the last two matches.
Liliana Kinder has averaged more than 11 kills per match over the last three outings.
Emily Conard has averaged 11.75 digs per match over the last four.
Emily Conlin has 16 double-doubles on the season, including four straight.
Jayln Knight has a dozen-doubles on the season, including two straight.

UP NEXT
Anderson has a five-day layoff before closing out its regular-season home slate by playing host to league-leading Wingate on Friday. First-serve for the Trojans' Senior Night is set for 6 p.m. at the Abney Athletic Center.