VALDOSTA, Georgia – The host Valdosta State University Blazers rallied from two sets down to force an extra set and hand the Lee volleyball team a five-set 3-2 defeat (25-21, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-11) inside the Complex on Friday evening. The Blazers evened their overall record at 9-9 and improved to 2-3 in conference play while the Lady Flames dropped to 4-9, 2-3 GSC.
The road struggles continued for the battling Lady Flames who have forced at least four sets or more in dropping four straight road contests. Coach Callie Murphy's club will continue the tough road adventures on Saturday afternoon when they travel on up to Carrollton, Georgia and face West Georgia University.
The Lady Flames got out of the gate quickly and claimed the opening set 25-21 and the match could have been very well decided late in the second set which found Lee on top, but the Blazers battled back to force extra points and claimed the 27-25 win. Lee quickly regrouped and won set three 25-22 before seeing the Blazers dominate set four 25-16 and then claim the victory 15-11.
"Tonight was a match of finishing out sets and we just came up short in the end. Our execution started to slow down in the fourth and fifth sets and we struggled to recover turning attempts into kills. Minimal errors which a coach loves to see offensively, but we got beat defensively by a smart VSU team," explained Coach Murphy.
Statistics show some of the coach's points. The Blazers had 73 kills while the Lady Flames had 61. The host squad had 11 aces to five for Lee. The battle at the net was tied with nine blocks apiece but Valdosta dished off 71 assists to 57 for the Lady Flames and went to the floor for 88 digs to 78 for Lee.
"This was a better fight from last weekend, but still not where we need to be as a team if we want to beat the teams in our conference," the coach added. "Allie Whittinghill really showed up for the team tonight, contributing 17 kills and two blocks in a good night hitting .255. Her energy was top notch. Also, Lyssi Snouffer contributed one of her best hitting nights, hitting .395 and gave the team 20 digs. I'm proud of the effort in those two categories. All in all, we just need to figure out how to win and not just compete. Once that mindset flips, I feel we will be unstoppable."
Other statistics show Regan Bratton with 51 assists and 14 digs while Mackenzie Pearson had 18 digs. Scottie Cook went to the net for four blocks.
Valdosta State was led by Jojo Smith with 24 kills, Caitlin Warnshuis with 15 and Kylie Stroeklein with 15. Tammy Reyes-Perez made things easy for the kill leaders with 62 assists.
