Bulldogs Prove To Be Too Much For Lady Railsplitters

HARROGATE, TN – Although the Lady Railsplitters played the Bulldogs close throughout much of Saturday afternoon’s match, Wingate remained unbeaten at 7-0 in conference play with their 3-1 win over LMU, and extended their overall record to 21-1 on the year.

Lincoln Memorial and Wingate started off Saturday afternoon by going toe-to-toe in game one until Kathryn Reddick gave the Bulldogs a three point lead at 21-18.  From there, Wingate used a solid offensive attack to bombard the Lady Railsplitters over the next nine points to come away with a 30-20 win, and to take a 1-0 advantage.

As game two got underway, again the two South Atlantic Conference teams battled right down to the wire with Wingate taking a close 30-28 decision to take a commanding two games to none lead.

With their backs to the wall, the Lady Splitters put together a run late in game three and caught the Bulldogs by surprise.  Several LMU players were playing out of position and the changes confused the Bulldogs.  Finally, after trailing most of the game, LMU was able to tie the score at 27 and eventually took the lead at 28-27 on a service ace by senior outside hitter Amanda Baker (Los Banos, CA).  Although LMU relinquished the lead, the comeback late in the game lifted the Lady Railsplitter’s spirit enough that they were able to get over the top to pull out a 32-30 win over Wingate.

LMU’s win in game three seemed to wake a sleeping giant.  Wingate came out looking for blood in game four, and reeled off nine consecutive points to open the game to put the Lady Railsplitters in a hole early.  Wingate’s start proved too much for LMU to handle as the Lady Splitters were never able to recover and the Wingate rolled to a 30-14 win in the final game.

Although LMU lost the match, sophomore outside hitter Amanda Horenkamp (Murfreesboro, TN) turned in a match-high 18 kills to lead both teams in the category.  Freshman libero, Alicia McIntyre (Muncie, IN) led all players in the digs category with 21.

Photo by Ray Welch Photography