JACKSON, Tenn. – It was a happy homecoming for Lee head coach Christa Fabre and her assistant CeCe Blanchard on Saturday afternoon at Union University. Fabre is a former Lady Bulldogs assistant coach and Blanchard played at Union. Fabre, in her first year as the Lady Flames volleyball head coach, left the Fred Delay Gymnasium with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-15) victory.
With the win, Lee improved to 15-12 overall and 6-6 in GSC play. Union dropped to 4-22, 3-8. The victory moved the Lady Flames up to seventh place in the conference standings as they move closer to securing a spot in the GSC tournament. While Lee was winning on Saturday afternoon, West Georgia was falling to Valdosta State and slipping behind the Lady Flames in the standings.
Lee will continue its road adventures on Tuesday evening facing the University of Alabama at Huntsville. The Chargers are in second place in the standings but the Lady Flames defeated UAH when the two team battled in five sets earlier in the season. Lee returns home on Friday evening and will be celebrating Volley For A Cure when it hosts Valdosta State in a 7 p.m. contest.
In Saturday's first set the Lady Flames were down 24-22 when Coach Fabre ordered a timeout. Lee fought back on a kill by Grace Mazzocca and an ace by Carmen Perez to tie the set at 24. Abby Stroh came up with back-to-back slams to give Lee the 26-24 first-set win.
It was the same story in the second set. The contest was tied four times before Lee broke away and led 19-16 to force a timeout by Union. The Lady Bulldogs came right back with a rally of their own to cut the lead to 20-19 before Kamryn Halpin went to the service line and directed the Lady Flames to a 21-19 lead. Union again refused to fold and cut the margin to 21-20 before Perez and Naomi Hockless had kills to help salt the 25-22 second-set victory away.
The third set was no contest as the Lady Flames never trailed and went on an 8-0 run to lead 20-12. Halpin again went to the service line to help secure the victory and Union had its problems controlling the power of Stroh's kills.
The Lady Flames finished the day with a solid kill percentage of .306. Stroh led the way with 16 kills and a .265 mark. Sophia Lippert gave the Lady Bulldogs trouble with her left-handed swing and finished with nine kills and a .350 attack percentage. Hockless was next with seven kills in the middle and a steady .462 tally. Allie Scurlock and Perez finished the afternoon with five kills each.
Ashton Middleton and Clarissa Soza set their teammates up with 25 and 16 assists apiece. Soza also had three aces while Stroh and Halpin finished the day with a pair of aces. Perez was kept busy in the backcourt with 13 digs and she went back to the net for a pair of blocks. Halpin completed her busy afternoon with 12 digs.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"Our match today went in a lot of directions. Stacy Wolfe was honored at their Pink Game and Coach CeCe and I are close with her family as we coach her daughter during my time at Union. There are still so many people I know and love that are a part of the Union program.
"Our team played well and progressively improved with each set and that is what you want to see. We picked up on some tendencies and that put the pressure on them. We are thankful to be able to walk away with a three-set win and are looking forward to competing against UAH on Tuesday."
