CLINTON, Mississippi – The Lee volleyball team battled Mississippi College for four sets before falling 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. The final road trip of the regular season ended in a split for the Lady Flames. Lee defeated West Alabama on Friday.
The Lady Choctaws won the first two sets 25-22, 25-22. The Lady Flames rallied back to claim the third set in convincing style 25-16 before the home club wrapped up the match by winning the final set 25-20.
The Lady Flames will return to Walker Arena on Tuesday and host the University of West Georgia at 7 p.m. The annual Volley for a Cure contest will take place as a part of Homecoming on Friday at 6 p.m. when the Lady Flames will host Montevallo University. Lee will wrap up the regular season on Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. when they entertain rival Shorter University.
Emma Flowers had a double-double, 24 kills and 11 digs in Saturday's loss. She also had a .235 attack percentage. Allie Whittinghill followed with 11 kills and led the Lady Flames with five blocks. Reagan Bratton dished off 39 assists and also had a double-double when she went to the floor for 10 digs. Mackenzie Pearson came up with 11 digs and Hannah Longley had 10 digs and three assists.
The winning Lady Choctaws were led by Lexi Richards who had 16 kills and an attack percentage of .419. Lydia Paulette was strong in the middle with 12 kills and an attack mark of .360. Lexie Laurendine was the assist leader with 30 and Ingrid Savola added 10 assists while Missy Beber served up three aces for the winners.
Mississippi College improved to 7-12 overall and 5-6 in Gulf South Conference play. The Lady Flames dropped to 6-16 and 4-7.
Coach Murphy's comments: "I felt that we were pretty much playing an identical team of ourselves, and we just had one less player show up then Mississippi College did in stats. A few less errors and I truly believe the tables could have been turned.
"Emma had a good game in attacking, bringing the heat with 24 kills!
"I also wanted to give a shout-out to Angie Dzoba. This was her first set start this year and I felt she really did her job well of playing defense and serving.
"It truthfully was one of our better losses on the road. I saw lots of improvements made in our play over the last week. We just are a few less errors away from the matches consistently going our way. I'm excited to see what we can do in our final three home games of the season next week, starting with West Georgia on Tuesday.
"We need BIG crowds for the matches against West Georgia on Tuesday and our Volley for a Cure match on Friday against the University of Montevallo, then against Shorter University at 1 p.m. on Sunday for Senior Day when we will recognize Hannah Longley and Calina Croy."
