CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- For two of three sets, the Lee volleyball team battled the talented and the GSC's unbeaten (10-0) West Florida team down to the wire on Saturday afternoon inside Walker Arena. The visiting Argonauts turned back the determined Lady Flames in the first set 25-23. West Florida coasted to the second set 25-9 win, but charged up by the fans, the Lee club fought to the final points in set three before dropping the 25-22 thriller.
Overall, West Florida improved to 16-4 while Lee stands at 12-10 and 4-6 in important GSC play. Both teams will move on to Orlando. Florida and take part in the annual Crossover Tournament (against Sunshine State Conference teams) on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 20-21). The schedule will be released today.
In the third set, the Lady Flames trailed 20-14 before staging a never-say-die comeback. Clarissa Soza got the rally going with a service ace to cut it to 20-15. Abby Stroh fired up one of her three aces in the comeback and Macy Petty joined Carmen Perez for a block. The Argos were forced to call a timeout with the set deadlocked at 21-21. West Florida went on top again 22-21, but Sophia Lippert put down a kill to tie it a 22-22. The Argo led 23-22 and won on a very close line call that ended a determined fight by the Lady Flames.
Lippert had eight kills and hit .200 for Lee. Perez added six as did Naomi Hockless, who enjoyed one of her best showings, especially in the third set. Stroh had four kills, but her best effort came on six booming aces. She also had 22 receptions and seven digs. Soza finished with nine assists, three aces and a team-high 15 digs. Ashton joined in with 13 sets and eight digs. Macy Petty was the block leader with five.
The Argos' balanced attack was paced by Bailee Sterling and Avery Rodgers with 10 and nine kills, respectively. Overall, the visitors had 39 kills and a .272 attack mark. Gabi Maulton set the big guns up with 20 assists. Meg Brackhan came up with 19 digs, while Sterling also added six blocks and Rodgers and Annie Monoco had four a piece.
Christa Fabre's Thoughts:
"I saw some good things from our team today. I think that we learned we can compete with the best. West Florida is unbeaten so far in our conference and is a solid team. In the first and third sets we were right there with them and had opportunities to win."
"A few of our players really stepped up in a big moment. Abby's serve shifted the momentum to our side almost every time. Sophia's blocking came in at big moments. Clarissa led our team with 15 digs. I loved seeing her effort in that category. Naomi and Carmen played well offensively."
