CLEVELAND, Tenn.-After dropping the first set 25-22, the Lee University volleyball team regrouped and came charging back to win the next three sets, 25-16, 26-24, 25-20 to claim the important 3-1 GSC victory over the University of West Georgia on Sunday afternoon inside Walker Arena.
The win assured the Lady Flames a spot in the upcoming GSC tournament and also with one regular season game remaining made sure the volleyball team would post its first winning season since 2018. Lee stands at 16-14 overall with a final contest remaining at Shorter University before tournament play begins. In conference play the Lady Flames are 7-8. West Georgia is 13-13 overall and 7-7.
It was an entirely different Lee team after the first set and it was the serving that played a role in the second-set comeback. Carmen Perez dialed up a pair of aces and also slammed home a kill to put Lee up 12-9 and forced the timeout by the Wolves. The margin reached 16-11 on a kill by Abby Stroh and again West Georgia called a timeout. Lee won going away 25-16.
In the third set it was a battle from start to finish. The Lady Flames grabbed the 13-9 upper-hand on Stroh's kill and the frustrated Wolves ordered up a timeout. However, the margin grew to 20-15 and again West Georgia called their final timeout of the set. This time the TO apparently worked as the Wolves ran off four straight points and were able to tie the contest at 22 before Coach Christa Fabre called for a Lee timeout.
The Wolves led 24-22 before the Lee coach called her final timeout and the Lady Flames fought back to tie at 24. Perez stepped to the front again with her service aces and then delivered the game winning kill.
Lee fell behind 14-12 in the fourth set before calling their only timeout. The Lady Flames quickly moved in front 18-15 and never trailed again in winning 25-20. Stroh and Naomi Hockless went to work in the set and with her parents keeping tabs on the action, senior Kamryn Halpin picked up the 1000th dig of her career.
After a slow start, Stroh finished with a game-high 13 kills. Her double-double also included 10 digs and three service aces. Hockless had 11 kills and the balanced Lee attack continued with seven kills each by Macy Petty, Allie Scurlock and Perez while Sophia Lippert added five kills. Petty joined Perez with five aces each. All totaled Lee had a season high 17 aces and Stroh joined Halpin with three apiece. Halpin finished the afternoon with 26 digs and Perez had 13. Ashton Middleton delivered 23 assists and Clarissa Soza 19. Lippert and Petty went to the net for three blocks each while Hockless had two.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"We got great play from our team today. I loved seeing them come out after the first set with determination and confidence. We had several missed serves but we also had several aces that worked to get them out of system. We knew going in it would be a battle and we did what we needed to do today.
"I'm proud of Kam(ryn) for getting to 1000 digs. She needed 26 which was a big number and that is exactly what she got.
"We are ready for some rest and to prepare for Shorter next week. We will then get ready for the conference tournament. I really believe we can shake things up and upset some teams if we play the way I know we are capable of playing!"
