HARROGATE, Tenn. - Much like in Friday night's match with Carson-Newman, the Brevard volleyball team was able to take a set against one of the conference's elite teams. The Tornados, however, were unable to prevail, falling 3-1 to Lincoln Memorial in its sixth consecutive conference defeat.
Brevard (10-14, 4-13 SAC) had five players reach double figures in digs, led by Aleksandra Vrvilo's 25, but saw only Whitney DeMoss break the plateau in kills as the freshman paced the Brevard offense with a team-high 10 terminations. Fatima Gharachorloo chipped in four blocks to go along with her seven kills, while Rachel Ruble had eight kills and three stuffs.
But it was not enough to slow down the Lady Railsplitters (15-10, 11-6 SAC), who hit .226 for the match behind 11 kills apiece from Kiera Holland and Jazzy Oates. Holland also added 22 digs for the match.
Lincoln Memorial jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, closing the first set on a 15-5 run to take a leisurely 25-14 victory. The Tornados would answer in the second set though, paced by three kills in eight errorless attempts by DeMoss and four service aces, two of which came from freshman Maggie Weiss.
The 25-21 win saw 13 ties and seven lead changes. With the score knotted at 20, two straight Tornados' points forced a Lincoln Memorial Timeout, and the Lady Railsplitters drew to within a point on a kill by MaRanda Boddie. But a block by Gharachorloo and Savannah Cox followed by consecutive LMU attack errors gave Brevard a 25-21 win.
The Tornados were unable to repeat the feat in the final two sets, however, as Lincoln Memorial flipped the second set score to win the third stanza 25-21 before notching a 25-16 win to close the match. The Lady Railsplitters limited Brevard to an .089 hitting percentage over the final two sets as the Tornados struggled to maintain offensive rhythm.
With five conference matches remaining, Brevard sits one-half game back of Catawba for ninth place in the league at 4-13, pending the results of the Catawba-Tusculum matchup that begins at 6:00 p.m. Saturday. Newberry, which also begins its match with Wingate in an evening time slot, possesses the eighth spot in the standings at 6-10. The top eight teams will advance to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament.
Of Brevard's five remaining matches, three come against teams currently in the bottom half of the conference standings, giving the Tornados opportunities to improve their league record and earn a postseason bid. Brevard will avoid any midweek contests this week, next taking to the court Friday night at 7:00 p.m. to face Tusculum at Boshamer Gymnasium.
