GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team nearly picked up its first win over Lincoln Memorial in program history on Tuesday (Mar. 3) night. The Railsplitters are receiving votes in the latest national poll and were pushed to five sets by the Pioneers.

This marks only the second time in 13 meetings that TU has pushed LMU to a decisive fifth set.

The Pioneers (7-5, 0-2 IVA) were unable to hold off the Railsplitters (9-6, 1-0 IVA) by scores of 26-24, 29-27, 25-27, 20-25, 9-15.

Axel Van Baars finished with 23 kills on a .333 hitting percentage to lead LMU in the match. Zadyn LaBreche (18) and Georgios Armaos (13) also reached double figures offensively. Inbar Shachar dished out 67 assists and landed the lone service ace for the Railsplitters, while also rounding out a double-double with 10 digs. Oisin Walsh was credited with 10 total blocks (one solo, nine assists) at the net.

Reef Mathis (14), Adam Svendsen (13), and Morgan Makovec (12) paced the offense for the Pioneers, with Svendsen's upping his career-high. Caleb Hammann (3), Ian Johnson (3), and Aiden Roper (2) rounded out the scoring. Riley Wisniakowski distributed 46 assists, while Mathis and Makovec tallied the aces. Wisniakowski notched the second half of his fourth double-double of the season with 10 digs. Defensively, Mathis registered a career-best seven total blocks (five solo, two assists), just ahead of Hammann's six (one solo, five assists).

Lincoln Memorial hit .253 as a team with 76 kills and 33 errors on 170 total attempts. Tusculum hit .180 with 47 kills, 24 errors, and 128 total attacks. The Railsplitters led the match in assists (72-46) and digs (53-45), while the Pioneers tallied more service aces (2-1) and total blocks (16-13). TU's block total is tied for second-most in program history.

Tusculum makes a trip to the Carolinas this weekend, facing Lees-McRae on Friday (Mar. 6) and Erskine on Saturday (Mar. 7). Both matches are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.