CLINTON, Miss. – An outstanding rebuilding job by first-year coach Christa Fabre and her Lee University volleyball team ended on Tuesday evening in the first round of the 2023 GSC Volleyball Championship. Host and sixth-seeded Mississippi College handed the seventh-seeded Lady Flames a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-19) defeat inside A.E. Wood Coliseum.
Lee ends the season with a 17-15 overall record and started slowly in the first two sets against the talented Lady Choctaws. Led by All-GSC players Caroline Chastang and Lydia Paulette, Mississippi College was not about to be denied and moved onto round two of the playoffs with its power game.
After the Lady Choctaws seemed to be coasting in the first two sets, the Lee team as it has done all year, came fighting back and took the lead for the first time at 3-2 in the third set. Clarissa Soza followed by dialing up three straight aces to give her team a 6-2 advantage. Two plays later Abby Stroh came up with one of her two aces in the set and gave Lee a 9-5 lead. However, Mississippi College fought back to tie the contest at 12 and Lee called a timeout.
The set was tied again on two occasions before the Lady Choctaws finally pulled away and went on top 23-19 and Coach Fabre ordered her final timeout. Mississippi College tallied the final two points and claimed the set and the match.
The Lady Choctaws had 40 total kills to only 20 for the Lady Flames. They also had nine blocks to one for Lee. Chastang had 13 kills and an attack percentage of .357. She also delivered three aces and came up with 13 digs. Running mate Paulette added 11 kills as Mississippi College had a total attack percentage of .260.
Stroh, in her final match for the Lady Flames, came up with five kills, three aces, six digs and 24 receptions. Naomi Hockless also had five kills and a hitting mark of .250. Senior Allie Scurlock added four kills and Sophia Lippert, Macy Petty and Carmen Perez pitched in with two kills each. Ashton Middleton was the assist leader with 12. Kamryn Halpin led the Lady Flames with 11 digs.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"What a season it has been with this team! They are a team that does not quit. We started off the first two sets of the match tonight reaching and doing things outside of our normal play. We rallied a bit and had control in so much of the third set but still could not close it out.
"Our seniors have a lot to be proud of as they did such a good job of laying the foundation for years to come. They are not just strong volleyball players but good people. The led well and stepped up in big moments to take us as far as we went."
"Our match tonight is not the full story. It is how our season ended, sooner than we would have liked, but I am so proud of these girls, the way they don't quit and more importantly, who they are."
