HARROGATE, Tenn. — Blaire Fowler notched 18 kills and the Lady Railsplitters tallied a .336 attack percentage en route to powering their way to a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-13, 25-19) over Anderson University in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Friday night in Mary E. Mars Gymnasium.

The victory keeps Lincoln Memorial University in a tie atop the SAC leaderboard, as they move to 8-2 in league play and 16-8 overall on the season. With the loss, the Trojans drop to 3-9 in the SAC and 10-12 on the season.

Blaire Fowler (Fort Worth, Texas) led all players in the match with 18 kills, compiled on a monster .680 attack percentage. Fowler capped the contest with ten digs to notch a double-double for the Lady Railsplitters. Jennifer Drumm (Stanton, Mich.) and Allison Beavers (Tomball, Texas) bolstered the LMU attack with 11 kills apiece. Drumm tallied her total on a .455 attack percentage, while Beavers hit .500 in the match. The Lady Railsplitters combined for 57 kills in the match and limited the Trojans to only 33 over that span.

Brittany Pugh (Farmersburg, Ind.) dished out a match-high 28 assists, while Beavers aided that effort with 20 assists to finish with a double-double. Casey Mense led the defensive side of the match with 17 digs. As a team, the Lady Railsplitters recorded 56 digs, with eight different players tallying multiple digs, in the match. The Lady Railsplitters limited Anderson to a .200 attack percentage and forced the Trojans into 11 errors.

The Trojans were paced by Shannon Gillespie’s ten kills. Gillespie also led Anderson with 11 digs to finish the match with a double-double. Meghan Cautero led the way for the Trojans with 25 assists.

The first set saw the two teams play to a near stalemate throughout, as LMU retained a 15-14 at the midway point. The Trojans and Lady ‘Splitters traded points, with Anderson knotting the game at 18-18 on an LMU attack error down the stretch. The Lady Railsplitters regained control by taking four of the next five points, capped with a kill from Fowler, to take a 22-19 lead. Anderson answered by taking the next two points, however, Lincoln Memorial closed the door with a 3-0 rally, concluded with a kill from Beavers, to garner a 25-21 victory in the opening set.

The second set went in dominant favor to the Lady Railsplitters, as they opened the set by taking a 12-3 lead. Of those 12 points, LMU earned eight on kills. Anderson cut the deficit to six with an LMU attack error later in the set to push the score to 16-10, however, LMU closed the set on a 9-3 run, capped by a kill from Jazzy Oates, to earn a 25-13 triumph in set two. As a team, the Lady Railsplitters compiled a .405 attack percentage in that frame.

In the third and final stanza, the Lady Railsplitters opened up a 13-9 lead at the midway point. With the score holding in LMU’s favor at 13-11, the Lady ‘Splitters used a 6-2 run to extend their lead to 19-13. A kill from Victoria Wehrmann closed the gap to two later in the frame, but LMU rallied with a 6-2 run, finished with a kill from Blaire Fowler, to take a 25-19 victory and a 3-0 sweep over the Trojans.

The Lady Railsplitters will cap their weekend set Saturday, as they welcome Newberry College for a South Atlantic Conference match up against the Wolves. That match is slated to tip at 2 p.m. in Mary E. Mars Gymnasium.