The Lee women's volleyball team has proven once again that there is no place like home. 
 
Playing before another large and supportive crowd on Thursday evening, the Lady Flames handed visiting Shorter University its second loss of the season. "The crowd was fantastic and we really fed off that energy," said an extremely happy Lee head coach Andrea Hudson.
 
The Hawks slipped to 13-2 overall and 8-2 against Gulf South Conference opponents. The inspired Lady Flames improved their record to 6-8 and 3-6 in the GSC with the spine-tingling 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23) victory.
 
"This was a huge win for us," explained Hudson. "I've been really frustrated with our energy levels at times and tonight we brought the energy from start to finish."
 
Outside hitter Silvia Sartori turned in probably her best effort of the year. The sophomore produced a double-double, 22 kills, 12 digs and chipped in with five blocks. Sartori also had a .314 kill percentage. Brooke Wilsman was one of two other Lee players with a double-double. Another outside hitter Wilsman posted 12 kills and 14 digs. Setter Sadie Johnson joined the group with 33 assists and 10 digs.
 
"Our blocking was much better tonight, which is something we've really been trying to focus on in practice," pointed out the veteran coach.  Her point was well taken. The Lady Flames had a season high 24 blocks with middle blocker Crystal Dedes leading the way with nine. Teammate Carly Callahan had five blocks to go along with her nine kills.
 
Defensive specialist MaKayla Beebe played her role to perfection by going to the floor for 34 digs. All totaled, Lee had 84 digs in the victory and kept the Hawks on their heels the entire evening. Catherine Conley contributed eight kills as the Lady Flames blasted 64 kills in the victory.
 
"We need to take this momentum into Mississippi College (Clinton, Miss.) on Saturday," Hudson noted. "We get a break from conference next week, but we travel to Orlando, Fla. for the South Region Crossover Tournament."