DUE WEST, South Carolina – After defeating host Erskine College 3-0 on Saturday morning, the Lee volleyball team fell to Lincoln Memorial University in four sets (3-1) on Saturday afternoon and concluded the Erskine Invitational with a 2-1 record.
The Lady Flames will open home-court play on Wednesday (Sept. 6) at 6 p.m. when they host Tuskegee University inside Walker Arena.
In the hard-fought battle against the Railsplitters of LMU, the Lady Flames dropped the first set 25-18 but bounced back to win the second set 20-25. LMU took charge in the third set, claiming a 25-8 decision and then held off the rallying Lee team in the final set 25-22.
Sophia Lippert wrapped up a solid tournament with 10 kills in the loss. Abby Stroh and Julia Davis had eight slams apiece. Ashton Middleton set up the kills with 15 assists while Clarissa Soza dished off 12. Stroh and Kamryn Halpin had three aces and Soza two. In the dig department, Davis went to the court nine times, Soza eight, Middleton seven, and Halpin six.
LMU finished 3-0 in the tournament and was paced by a powerful performance by Katura Margaret who finished with 20 kills and a .444 hitting percentage.
Earlier in the day, the Lady Flames wasted no time in posting their second win in the Erskine Invitational. Coach Christa Fabre used 12 players in the 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-22) victory over the host Flyers.
Lippert led the way with 10 kills and an impressive .533 hitting mark. Davis followed with nine kills. Grace Mazzocca added five kills (.577 hitting percentage) while Allie Spurlock, Stroh and Naomi Hockless had four slams apiece.
Stroh was the feature player of the match with an overpowering seven aces. Middleton was the assist leader with 23 and Soza dished off 13. Halpin came up with seven digs and Carmen Perez had five and Middleton four.
Coach Christa Fabre's Thoughts:
Game 1 - "It always feels good to win in three. We were able to get some players on the court who I believe will see some time deeper into our season. It was not always pretty, but we found a way to come out on top each set. Our attackers did a great job of terminating the ball, hitting .330 as a team is an impressive stat. They didn't have an answer for Sophia (Lippert) who had 10 kills in 15 attempts.
Game 2 – "LMU brought more to the table than we did today. We knew going into the match that we needed to prioritize their right sides. Both (Kristen) Moehring and (Ketura) Margaret are phenomenal players. We were unable to defend, and it exposed some weaknesses in our team that we now get to work to improve in our gym.
