DUE WEST, South Carolina – The Lee volleyball team defeated Tusculum College 3-1 on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Erskine Invitational inside the Galloway Center. The victory marked the beginning of former Lady Flames All-American Christa Fabre as a college head coach.
Lee jumped out to a commanding 25-15 victory in the first set, but the determined Pioneers fought back and claimed the second set 22-25. A key block by Grace Mazzocca helped pull the Lady Flames even and Abby Stroh produced a pair of aces to seal the third set win (25-23) and set the tone for the final (25-19) set win.
The battle featured runs by both sides. In losing the second set, Lee ran off eight straight points and claimed a 17-11 lead before watching Tusculum fight back and grab a 22-20 lead. The two teams fought back and forth with the Pioneers claiming the final two points and the set.
Stroh, a graduate student, paced the Lady Flames' scoring with 15 kills and a .393 attack percentage. She also had a pair of aces, 13 receptions, nine digs and a pair of blocks. Senior Allie Scurlock had nine blocks and four digs. Sophomore Sophia Lippert also had nine kills and five blocks while red-shirt sophomore Naomi Hockless added five kills and three blocks.
In the assist department, senior Ashton Middleton stood out with 20 sets and 13 digs. Freshman Savannah Jennings joined in with 11 assists and an ace. Senior Kamryn Halpin made her presence felt with nine sets, two service aces, 32 receptions and 13 digs. Transfer junior Julia Davis pitched in with four kills, two assists and 12 receptions.
The Pioneers were paced by Aly Freeland who had 11 kills. Emiah Burrowes came up with nine slams and 11 digs. Caley Sosnowski also had 16 digs in defeat.
The Lady Flames will be right back in action on Saturday morning (10 a.m.) when they face host Erskine College. They will wrap up tourney play at 3 p.m. going against Lincoln Memorial University.
Thoughts From Coach Christa Fabre after her first college coaching win:
"A win today gave us the opportunity to learn how to play free and focused when the situation is tight. We came out and played well that first set, taking care of the volleyball on our side and finding ways to score, letting the other team make the errors.
"We knew they wouldn't continue making the same mistakes and they came out ready to play. We had the opportunity to finish in the second set, and let it get away from us. I was happy to see us respond after finding ourselves in a similar situation in the third set.
"Abby Stroh provided calm focus and had great stats with 15 kills and only 4 errors, hitting .393. Allie Scurlock, Sophia Lippert and Naomi Hockless were key players in the front row for us as well.
