AIKEN, S.C. – The Lee volleyball to moved to 4-1 on the young season on Friday afternoon as it split the first two matches of the USC Aiken Invitational. The Lady Flames topped North Greenville, 3-0 before dropping their first match of the season in a 3-1 loss to Lander.
LEE 3 NGU 0
The Lady Flames opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep of North Greenville (1-5). Lee outlasted the Crusaders in a back and forth first set 27-25. North Greenville withstood three match points before back to back errors finally gave Lee the close out point.
The Lady Flames dominated set number two, 25-14 before another close battle in set three. With the score tied at 24-24, senior left-handers Quinne Daoust and Bailey Kress sealed the victory with back to back kills.
Freshman Abby Stroh continued to impress with a career-high 13 slams. Kress added 12 kills while Daoust fired home nine. Hanna Matthews set things up with 38 assists. Stroh completed a double-double performance with 18 digs while Micaela McMichen added 15. Savannah Chan turned away four balls at the net to help the defensive effort.
North Greenville was led by Erin Allen with 12 kills. Katie McManaway added seven and Emma Pepper chipped in six. Eaden Shockley had 16 assists and eight digs.
As a team the Lady Flames hit .203 clip while the Crusaders settle for a .132 attack percentage.
LEE 1 LANDER 3
The Lady Flames claimed the opening set of Friday's night cap before the Lander Bearcats rattled off three straight wins to improve to 5-1 on the year.
Lee cruised to a 25-17 first set win before the Bearcats found their footing posting comfortable wins of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-18.
Stroh made it two straight double-doubles with 14 kills and 12 digs. Matthews posted 35 assists and eight digs while Micaela McMichen roamed the back line and dug out 31 attacks.
The Lander offense had four-players register double-figure kills. Hannah Hritz had 13 kills followed by Reilly Kuenstler, Kyra Ross and Alexa Barral with 10 each. Madilyn Reed had 41 assists and 10 digs. Hannah McManus led the defensive effort with 24.
The Bearcats suffered their first loss of the season earlier in the day in a hard-fought five-set battle with Auburn Montgomery.
"Tonight, was a real test against a great team," acknowledged head coach Andrea Hudson. "They were very athletic, and we just never got our footing. We got a chance to play some more kids though."
The Lady Flames will wrap up the USC Aiken Invitational tomorrow with a pair of matches. At 10 a.m. Lee will tangle with Florida Southern before finishing things up with host USC Aiken at 12:30 p.m.
