The Lee volleyball team went 2-0 on day one of the Lee Invitational from Walker Arena Friday as it defeated Emmanuel College in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) in the nightcap.
Earlier in the day the Lady Flames defeated Concord, 3-1 and are now 6-3 on the season. Lee will wrap up the weekend with a 3 p.m. showdown against 10-0 Shepherd University on Saturday.
Senior middle blocker Mary Katherine Givhan stepped up with 11 kills in the match. Freshman Abby Stroh added 11 slams and 17 digs for her second straight double-double performance. Hanna Matthews set up her team with 33 assists and added three kills and three blocks.
"When we ran the slide Hanna gave really good sets to me and gave me an opportunity to finish. She told us to just call everything so it would pull their blockers aways and we found some space," said Givhan. "We talked a lot about siding-out right away, once we lost the ball getting it back and Kevin (Hudson) was talking with us about pin hitters and blockers and what we need to do to adjust to what they were doing and we were able to make those adjustments."
Micaela McMichen roamed the back line for 22 digs and added two service aces. As a team the Lady Flames collected 17 aces in the two victories on Friday.
"We talked about not making the same mistakes over and over again. I thought we did a great job tonight of making adjustments after timeouts and the players responded well to the instructions we were giving," said head coach Andrea Hudson, now in her 29th year as leader of the Lee volleyball program. "Mary Katherine played really well up front for us and we were able to find her in rhythm throughout the match. Our other middle Savannah (Chan) really played well on defense and that was a big plus for us."
Mia McKensey led the Lions with eight kills while Hallie Richardson followed with six. Stephanie Hardy set up the visitors with 23 assists and pitched in eight digs. The Lions fell to 3-5 on the year after losing to Shepherd and Lee on Friday. Emmanuel will wrap up the invitational on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. against Concord.
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