For the second straight match the Lee volleyball team came up just short in a five-set battle that went down to the wire. This time it was rival Shorter University edging the Lady Flames, 3-2 on Tuesday evening in the final home match from Walker Arena.

Lee jumped out to an early 15-5 advantage in the first set and withstood a nice rally by the Lady Hawks to take the early lead with a 25-22 victory.

The Lady Hawks bounced back to take sets two and three (25-22, 25-21) before Lee rallied for a 25-22 victory to force the fifth and deciding set.

Shorter jumped out to the early lead in the tiebreaker and never looked back to close out the road win by a 15-10 margin.

Junior Catherine Conley made her presence felt with a career-high 22 slams on a sizzling .391 hitting percentage to guide the Lady Flames. Silvia Sartori followed with 13 kills and 11 digs and Brooke Wilsman added 12.

"I told (our players) I knew it had to feel bad to play this well against the No. 4 team in the conference especially after playing a hard-fought match against West Alabama on Saturday, "said head coach Andrea Hudson. "The same Achilles Heel we've had all season should up again. We do really good in spots and then give up a run and we've got to find a way to fix that."

Sartori, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, was named GSC Freshman of the Week earlier in the day on Tuesday. The outside hitter has claimed the conference honor on three different occasions this season.

"Cat (Catherine Conley) was our hero tonight. She had 22 kills and even played some on the back line tonight and did a great job of serving in the spots we wanted her to," noted Hudson. "Silvia did a nice job but I think teams are really starting to key on her so I thought Cat did a great job of complimentary her tonight."

Hillary Hoffpauir set up the attack for Lee with 51 assists and also added a pair of service aces. Playing in their final matches on the sport court at Walker Arena, seniors Sarah Davis (16 digs) and Stephanie Hernandez (19 digs) helped anchor the back line.

Madeline Munroe led a balanced Shorter attack with 12 kills. Alicia McClellan and Elizabeth Dowd each added 11 kills and BreAnna Thompson pitched in 10. Cheyenne Frady and Dena Pierce shared time at the setter position for the Georgia club. Frady registered 25 assists and Pierce tallied 19 helpers.

The win keeps Shorter in fourth place in the GSC standings at 15-10, 13-6. If things remain the same, the Lady Hawks will be in line to host an opening round match in the conference tournament a week from tonight.

"At the beginning of the season I didn't think we would be where we are right now. We changed our lineup about three or four weeks ago and since that time we've played a lot better and been in every match," said Hudson. "We have a lot of young people on the court right now and there were only two seniors, and both of those were on the defensive end so we do have a lot to look forward to, we have young players with a lot of experience now so that will help us next season."

The loss drops the Lady Flames to 12-17 overall and 7-12 in league play. Lee will wrap up the 2015 season with a visit to Mississippi College on Friday at 7 p.m. The Lady Flames are 3-0 the past two years against the Choctaws.