Â
Thanks to 18 kills from freshman Silvia Sartori the Lee volleyball team finished its home tournament with three straight wins, topping Bryan College, 3-1 on Saturday evening at Walker Arena.
Earlier in the day the Lady Flames defeated Emmanuel by the same margin and now sit at 3-1 on the season. Lee will host Trevecca Nazarene University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before being play in the rugged Gulf South Conference.
Bryan College falls to 5-9 on the year. The Lions defeated Emmanuel before falling to the Lady Flames.
Sartori was joined by three other players with double-digit kills. Freshman Emily Bento tallied 11 and Brooke Wilsman and Erin Hill both recorded 10. Sadie Johnson helped set things up with 28 assists while Hillary Hoffpauir added 19 helpers.
"Some of our new players really stepped up this weekend and balance should be a strength of our team," said head coach Andrea Hudson after the match. "I probably wouldn't have scheduled Campbellsville right out of the gate if I had to do it over, they were a strong team and had already played several matches. I would have loved to play them in the final match but I was really happy to see we got some chemistry going and did a nice job of bouncing back and finished the weekend strong."
The two clubs exchanged blows in the first set, which featured 15 ties and six lead changes. The Lady Flames would hold on for a 25-23 win. Lee pulled away in the second set to take the commanding 2-0 lead (25-21).
In the third set it appeared Bryan held control up 22-16 but the Lady Flames scored six straight points and forced a Lions timeout. Bryan regrouped and held on for a 26-24 win to force a fourth set.
The final set belonged to the Lady Flames as they registered 15 kills on a .345 hitting percentage to close things out.
The Lions were led by Kara Stamper with 14 kills. Ashley Mattoch followed with 10 and Shelby Grace Enochs added 37 assists.
"We play some of the toughest conference competition right off the bat. We play UAH, who were undefeated going into this weekend and then North Alabama who played great at the end of last year," noted Hudson. "We follow that up with West Florida and Valdosta State at home so we are going to challenge our girls and I think will be ok and I think they'll step up. I'm excited."
LU 3, EC 1The Lee volleyball team stormed past Emmanuel in the fifth-set tiebreaker, 15-6 to close out a five-set battle with Emmanuel College on day two of the Lee Invitational inside Walker Arena.
The Lady Flames held a 2-1 lead but Emmanuel edged past the home team in the fourth set, 25-23 to force the deciding session.
Lee opened a 1-0 advantage with a commanding, 25-21 victory in set one, in which the Lady Flames never trailed. The Lions returned the favor in set two, leading from start to finish en route to a 25-18 win. Lee scored the final points to claim set three 25-19.
Sophomore Catherine Conley led the way with 14 kills from her middle hitter position. Setting many of those points was Sadie Johnson. The sophomore setter registered 28 assists for the Lady Flames.
Erin Hill added 13 slams and registered a .333 hitting percentage. Blaire Beamer added five kills but had three big services aces to help the cause.
The Lions had two players record double-digit kills. Erica Burnham provided the pop from the outside with 14 kills while Julie de Blanck added 11. Libby Bradford had a match-high 33 assists.
Â
