GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Newberry College volleyball team opened play in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament with a first-round match against the third-seeded Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters. As a sixth seed, Newberry began the match with the anticipation of the upset and built a 2-1 set lead, but fell victim to a LMU comeback and lost a heartbreaker in five sets by scores of 25-15, 24-26, 18-25, 25-23, 15-8.

The first set was predominantly controlled by the Railsplitters. Newberry won the first point, but never led again after that for the length of the set. A four-point run quickly allotted the Railsplitters a three-point advantage at 7-3. The Railsplitters managed a few more runs later on and slowly stretched their lead until they sealed it at 25-15.

In the second, Lincoln Memorial opened the door with several service aces and seven consecutive points to go up 7-1. After the run, Newberry capitalized on several of the Railsplitters' mistakes and slowly closed the gap, eventually evening the match at 12-12. The teams exchanged the ensuing points and were tied eight more times in the set, the last one being 24-24. Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas) and Kember Lichtie (Amarillo, Texas) managed kills on the next two points to seal the second-set victory at 26-24.

The third set was even in the early going, with the teams alternating points equally. The teams were tied nine times until an LMU service error put Harris on the line with a 17-16 lead. Harris then led Newberry to seven consecutive points, two of them coming off of aces. From there, Newberry coasted to the 25-18 set victory.

The fourth set would prove to be pivotal, and it was apparent in how hard each team battled for it. Facing elimination, the Lady Railsplitters used a 5-1 run to move out to a 17-12 advantage in the frame. Newberry answered with 10-5 surge that tied the set at 22-22 thanks in part to kills from Harris and Lorena Maia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Newberry took a brief lead at 23-22 thanks to a Maia service ace, but LMU answered with three straight points to take the set and keep the match alive.

The fourth set loss weighed Newberry down in the fifth and final set. The Lady Railsplitters opened with a 7-1 run and essentially never looked back. Newberry made runs, but never led or tied the set and ended up on the wrong side of a 15-8 set final.

Harris led Newberry's attack with 15 kills, her best on the year. Previously, her high was 11 kills, which she achieved four different times. Harris also tallied three service aces on the night. Newberry's seniors also shined, with Lichtie counting for 14 of Newberry's kills while Maia and Fernanda Frey (Sao Paulo, Brazil) each had 13. Maia also had three service aces and led the team in digs with 17. Freshman Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) capped off a successful freshman season at setter with an astounding 53 assists, her career best.