NEWBERRY, S.C. - Despite Samantha Parrish's 19-kill, 19-dig performance, the Newberry College volleyball team fell for the fifth time in the fifth set this season to Lincoln Memorial 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 11-25, 15-10) at Eleazer Arena on Friday evening.

Parrish (Angola, Ind.) hit .378 for the match and helped the Wolves (6-6, 1-3 SAC) to a near comeback against the Railsplitters (7-2, 4-1 SAC) in the team's home opener this season.

The Lady Railsplitters pulled away in the fifth set on a 5-0 run forcing Wolves coach David Nicholson to burn two timeouts. The first timeout came at 10-7 after Brittany Pugh's service ace and the other came after Blaire Fowler put a ball away making it 12-7. Newberry had a tough time with Fowler who had a team-high 18 kills for the Lady Railsplitters. Pugh's service error gave the Wolves some life down five points. Two attack errors got the Wolves within three but a service error by Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) gave LMU an opportunity at match point. Fowler's kill ended the threat.

Newberry forced a fifth set with a dominant performance in set four. The Wolves hit .478 as a team and Parrish had six kills in seven attempts. She fueled a 4-0 in the set to push the Wolves lead to 18-8. Three Prachar kills highlighted a 5-0 run early in the set for Newberry.

Newberry had a firm grasp on the third set when Lindsey Hollingsworth (Charleston, S.C.) served the team to a 19-15 lead forcing a LMU timeout. A service error, two kills and an attack error on four consecutive points made the Newberry lead evaporate.

It was tight the rest of the set. Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) got one of her season-high 53 assists when she set up Prachar who tied the set at 23 with one of 16 kills on the evening. But a service error and a kill by Pugh gave the Lady Railsplitters a 2-1 lead.

With the help of two Parrish aces, the Wolves came back from a 19-15 deficit and had a chance to take a 2-0 lead in set two. Jessica King's (Los Angeles, Calif.) ace gave Newberry a 22-21 lead. A Prachar blast made it 23-22 but LMU took the next three points to win the set.

Newberry looked fired up in front of the home crowd in the first set. The Wolves had four out of a season high 14 aces. The last ace came off Parrish's hand giving Newberry a 22-19 lead it wouldn't relinquish. Parrish finished with a team-high four aces.

Madison Schultz (Decatur, Ind.) continues to attack at a high percentage. The freshman had 12 kills and hit .375 for the match. She leads the team with a .336 hitting percentage.

The Wolves return to action tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. contest against Carson-Newman.