GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team continued its hot start to the conference season with a three-set sweep of in-state foe Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday (Sept. 26) night. TU never trailed across the entire match.

The Pioneers (9-4, 5-1 SAC) have now won six-straight matches at home, dating back to last season, after sweeping the Railsplitters (7-8, 1-4 SAC) by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-21.

Kristen Moehring was the dominant force for LMU with 12 kills on a .281 hitting percentage. Amanda Lisi dished out 19 assists, while Abigail Kesler, Lauren Pickett, and Megan Maier landed the service aces. Defensively, Katie Cardenas scooped up eight digs and four Railsplitters recorded a block assist: Kesler, Agata Bogdankska, Katherine Bedel, and Moehring.

Tusculum's fiery hitting night was spurred by 14 kills on a .400 clip from Emiah Burrowes. Whitney Thompson notched nine kills on a .438 rate, followed by Aly Freeland with eight kills and Martina Foster's seven strikes on a .500 average. Madison Adkins went 5-for-8 on swings and Bailey Parker rounded out the scoring with a pair of kills. Adkins collected 36 assists and three aces. Caley Sosnowski (3), Burrowes (2), Freeland (1), and Foster (1) notched the remaining service points. Sosnowski finished with a match-best 18 digs, ahead of 11 by Adkins. Parker was the lone player in the contest to record multiple blocks with two assisted.

Lincoln Memorial hit .160 as a team with 31 kills and 14 errors on 106 total attempts. Tusculum hit .360 with 45 kills, nine errors, and 100 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Railsplitters in assists (43-30), service aces (10-3), digs (52-38), and total blocks (3-2).

Thanks to a LMU attack error, Tusculum took the first point of the contest and never looked back. The Pioneers hit .308 to the Railsplitters' .116. Burrowes (6) and Foster (4) combined for 10 of TU's 15 kills in the opening frame. Meanwhile, Sosnowski added seven digs on the defensive end to enable the offense. The 1-1 tie was the only even score until the third set. Tusculum rattled off a 9-2 run to create distance. LMU steadily chipped away to a five-point deficit (22-17) but TU finished out the set with three-straight scores: consecutive kills by Freeland and the final blow by Burrowes.

Tusculum hit a scorching .536 (16-1/28) in set two, combined with all three blocks, equalled the Pioneers being one frame away from a sweep. Adkins notched three kills on three quick attacks as the setter, while Thompson went 4-for-6 as the right-side hitter. Sosnowski continued her stellar defense, recording seven of the team's 12 digs in the set. TU shot out to an 8-2 edge, capped off by consecutive Adkins aces, which forced a LMU timeout. Sosnowski padded the lead with her own service run and pair of aces to up the advantage to 14-5. The Pioneers tallied four-straight to hold a 12-point edge at 23-11 before LMU went on a 5-1 spurt, including fighting off two set-points. Thompson clinched the 2-0 match lead on her final swing.

Tusculum's worst hitting frame of the evening (.273) still outdid Lincoln Memorial's best (.229). Burrowes was errorless in the third set, recording four kills on nine swings. The remaining two ties occurred at 2-2 and 7-all. LMU was able to keep TU within reach, but a 5-1 rally put the Pioneers up 12-8. The lead grew to no greater than four and shrunk to one at 22-21. The Railsplitters were attempting to avoid the sweep, yet the Pioneers won the final three tallies.

Tusculum continues its homestand by playing host to the Anderson Trojans, who are receiving votes in the latest national poll, on Friday (Sept. 29) night. First serve in Pioneer Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.