HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Lee University volleyball team went on the road and pushed one of the top teams in the GSC until the final point in the fifth set before falling on Tuesday evening. Host University of Alabama in Huntsville found a way to defeat the Lady Flames 3-2 (29-27, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21, 19-17). The victory improved the Chargers record to 15-8 overall and 11-2 in conference play. The Lady Flames are 15-13, 6-7.
Lee will return to action on Friday evening (7 p.m.) and will be hosting the annual Volley For A Cure event. Coach Christa Fabre's club will be trying to move up from its eighth spot in the conference standings when it hosts Valdosta State University. Lee will also remain at home on Sunday afternoon for an important 1 p.m. match with the University of West Georgia.
Abby Stroh had 18 kills, three aces and also 18 digs against the Chargers. Allie Scurlock joined in with 14 kills and a .235 attack mark. She had five blocks. Naomi Hockless had one of her better outings of the year. She totaled nine kills and a solid .389 attack percentage to go along with a team-leading six blocks. Carmen Perez added a well-rounded performance with seven kills (.235 attack), three aces and 17 digs.
Clarissa Soza had three aces as the Lady Flames tallied 10 total aces in the loss. She also had 17 digs. Ashton Middleton was the assist leader with 29 while Soza dished off 19. Lee showed improvement at the net with 18 blocks. Macy Petty joined Scurlock and Hockless efforts with three kills of her own. On the defensive side, Kamryn Halpin had 24 digs as the Lee team totaled 88 to only 81 for the Chargers.
The Lady Flames had their work cut out with the Charger front line. Four players reached double-digits in hills. Caroline Moyer led the way with 17. Autumn Mayes was next with 15 while Kiara Hill totaled 14 and Zoe Smith pitched in with 12. All four were set up with 52 assists from Savannah Rutledge. She also had 10 digs. Mayes joined in with 18 digs while Tatiana Bonilla was the leader in that department with 29.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"I'm so proud of the way our team competed tonight even though we didn't come out on top. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in and it was until the very end. We were one of their two losses prior to this match so we knew they would be coming in hungry."
"We have made improvements in some areas that we have been working hard on in practice and that is great to see. We can go into the weekend with a lot of confidence knowing we can compete with any team in our conference."
